Remember Me
by xX-Misty
Summary: Fenchurch East enters a new, peaceful era without the threat of Keats hanging over the team but when the past collides with their present the world is thrown into just enough chaos to send Alex on an unexpected journey while Gene has to deal with a chucking out time of epic proportions.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"A whole glorious Keats-free month," Gene sighed as he stretched out along the couch, arms folded behind the back of his head.

"You look like you need a sun lounger and a tropical cocktail," Alex told him as she turned the page in her book.

"Not bloody likely, that brings us back to Club Tropicana," Gene mumbled and Alex smiled before returning to her evening's reading.

A lazy Sunday morning had turned into a lazy Sunday afternoon and finally a lazy Sunday night. Life was pretty damn good, they had to admit. After the stress of the trial it had taken weeks for them to feel reassured that Keats was gone, his power taken away and how presence no longer a factor in their lives. Where once they'd spent every day fearing his next arrival now they headed to work each morning just looking forward to getting on with their work and their lives without cloud of malevolence hanging over their heads.

Alex glanced up as Gene finally rolled off the couch and began to leave the room.

"Where are you going?" she called to him.

"To get me bloody blow torch and a welding mallet," Gene called back, leaving Alex with a huge frown upon her face. She looked up in confusion as Gene returned empty handed. "Stringer's starting tomorrow. Got to deal with all that metal somehow."

Alex rolled her eyes, pulled a face and disappeared behind her book again.

"I hope you're going to be on your best behaviour tomorrow," she warned him.

"I'll be a model citizen," Gene said innocently.

"Model of a citizen who's been working on his repertoire of Kim jokes for the last four weeks," Alex said, eying him suspiciously.

"Stringer can give as good as she gets, you know," Gene told her and Alex sighed.

"I _do_ know, that's what worries me!" She told him, "talk about _World War Three_, it'll be more like _World War CID_." She turned her page as Gene took up residence on the couch again, unfolding the Sunday paper for a good read. It felt so strange for life to be peaceful for once. Unnatural, almost. They were so used to watching their back for rogue Ridgeley fans that it seemed a little too good to be true. Alex rubbed her eyes as she laid down her book and turned to Gene. "I keep thinking there's something we've forgotten," she said and Gene looked at her with a frown.

"There _is_," he told her, "we've forgotten to make wild, passionate love for the past forty-eight hours."

In response Alex threw her book in his lap, narrowly avoiding the parts that Gene was hoping to make use of later.

"I'm _serious!"_

"So am I! Almost forgotten what part to stick it into."

Alex got to her feet and shook her head.

"No, it's how to make your the bed on the couch," she told him, "which is where you'll be heading if you say any of those things to Kim tomorrow. She paused. "I thought for a moment it was something _about_ Kim I'd forgotten but…" she sighed and rubbed her forehead. "It's gone. Whatever it was, it's gone." She shook her head. "My brain seems to have more holes than that colander from the canteen at the moment."

She decided to forget about the nagging feeling and to fetch a bottle of wine for the evening instead. It couldn't have been that important. Besides, there was a big day ahead tomorrow; Kim's return and the opening of the new suite in CID. There were bound to be one or two tiny technical details they'd forgotten. That was natural. But it was time to relax and to welcome Kim back so whatever it was, they'd just have to deal with it as and when it happened.

~xXx~

"I feel sick."

Robin watched Kim doing laps of the bedroom and tried not to laugh.

"You're going to _make_ yourself sick if you keep panicking like this," he told her.

Kim started pacing in the opposite direction.

"I think I'm going to throw up," she mumbled.

"_Kim,"_ Robin put a hand on her arm and tried to get her to look him in the eye, "you were like this the day you were waiting to find out if you passed your hostage negotiation training too. You don't get worked up often but when you do…" he sighed and shook his head, "you're going to be fine, I promise. It's not like this is totally new for you. You've been a detective chief inspector for… how many months before Keats stripped you of your title?"

Kim hung her head a little.

"About six months between both worlds," she said quietly.

"And you've worked at Fenchurch East before. It'll all be familiar to you."

"Rob, I haven't worked at _Nineties_ Fenchurch East for a decade. It's not the station I'm used to."

"I'm going to be a one-minute walk from your office. Alex is down the hall. And the door of Simon'so0ffice is close enough that – I'm reliably informed – if you fire off a paper plane at the right angle you can get it right through the doorway and hear him swearing."

"Who informed you of that?"

"Bammo."

Kim sighed. She stopped pacing and tried to calm her nerves. She knew Robin was right; she was winding herself up and was going to literally make herself sick with nerves if she wasn't careful, but the thought of being back at Fenchurch East after everything she'd been through was terrifying. Even Kim had her weaknesses. This was one of them.

"I'll just be really glad when today's over," she said as she rubbed her forehead, "get the first day over, get in bed and watch some really good shitty TV."

"Are you sure you're _up_ to going back to work?" Robin asked her, "physically, I mean?" he shuffled over and gently stroked her hair, "you still look very pale."

"I'm fine," Kim said quietly, even though she didn't feel it. Initially her recovery had been very good but she just didn't seem to be able to get her energy back. She started rummaging through the wardrobe, swearing a lot and rejecting clothes for various reasons. "Why are none of these good enough for work?" she mumbled.

"Kim, you used to wear this kind of thing for work back home," Robin reminded her.

"This is my first day," Kim said frantically "I'm supposed to make a good impression."

"You _will,"_Robin told her, "but not because of the clothes you're wearing. Because you're Kim Stringer, and everyone knows you don't take any crap. You're going to go to work and it'll be just like you've never been away, Kim. Please trust me."

"This coming from the man who hid in the airing cupboard when someone asked you to help them _untrain_ their dog from pulling down their underpants," Kim reminded him.

"It's not my fault they'd fucked up the canine unit by opening it before I got here!" Robin protested, "those dogs were next to useless!" He cringed, "most of them still are…" he sighed, "at least they're opening the new unit today with you already in place."

Kim swore at the trousers she was trying to fasten and kicked them back off.

"Not much bloody chance I'll actually _be_ there, the way things are going!" she huffed.

"What's wrong now?" Robin frowned.

"Fucking _trousers_ don't fit!" Kim cried, "you and all your bloody pizzas!"

"_Hey!_ Don't blame the pizzas!" Robin said defensively as Kim glowered at her reflection.

"You've given me a pot belly," she complained and Robin rolled his eyes.

"_Kim,"_ he began worriedly, "you haven't spoken like this since you were with Linda. You're totally exaggerating, and might I remind you how dangerously underweight you were?" he looked at her seriously, "the important word there is 'dangerously'." He saw her hang her head, "You've still got a long way to go to get your strength completely back. You _needed_ to put on some weight."

Kim sighed deeply and shuffled uncomfortably.

"I know," she mumbled, "It's just…" she closed her eyes, "why did it all have to go on the same _place?"_

Robin sighed and walked over to the wardrobe, leafing through the hanging clothes. He found a pair of jeans and pulled them from the hanger.

"Here," he said, "wear these"

"I can't wear jeans on my first day," Kim frowned.

"Yes you can," Robin told her, "because you're Kim Stringer. You wear jeans and my shirts and clunky boots. You stopped changing for other people a long time ago," he thrust the jeans into her hand. "Don't start now."

Kim stared at the clothes in her grasp and then at Robin's concerned expression. She knew she was worrying too much and about all the wrong things. She hated to admit that she was feeling anxious and insecure. Eventually she nodded and gave him a little smile.

"Alright," she said quietly as she pulled them on, "but one comment from Gene and I'm coming straight home for my piercing kit."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Robin held out his palms innocently.

As Kim dressed in her jeans and a familiar shirt topped off with a belt and her clunky boots the woman he knew and loved seemed more like herself. Kim had no need to be anyone or anything other than who she was. Changing herself for someone else had never worked out before. Fenchurch East was just going to have to accept that, like it or not, Kim Stringer was going to do things her way.

"Perfect," Robin smiled as he handed her a jacket, "now let's get out of here before you change your mind and hide under the bed. _Ow,"_ he concluded as she tapped him with a can of hairspray.

"Fine," she said, "let's get out of here." She paused. "Bagsy you buy lunch!"

"Oh _bollocks_, I didn't know we were bagsying!" Robin protested as the set off for the door, "that bagsy will not stand up in court!"

"Neither does Evan any more," Kim commented and they both laughed.

As they left the flat Kim began to gain a little more confidence. She was back in the place that felt like home, she had friendship and love around her and a new challenge to sink her teeth into. It was all looking so bright, just for once.

~xXx~

As she tied her hair back in a short ponytail, Shaz Granger wondered if it was time to get a trim. She pulled on her coat and heard the beeping of the car horn outside. Peering behind the curtain she saw Marci waving and waved back before praying here breakfast would stay down. Marci was fun, beautiful and smart but she drove like a maniac.

"I need a new car," Shaz mumbled as she picked up her key and left her flat. It was a regular old Monday morning, a little grey, rather chilly and doubtlessly packed with annoyances but normal none the less.

Then why was there something strange hanging in the air?

_**~xXx~**_

_**A/N: Here we go again! This fic is the sequel to Don't Speak and is set at the beginning of November 1997, which was a really happy time for me (maybe not so happy for Alex and the others though…. No, actually this fic is more of a bit of light relief than anything after the last few fics!) and I'm finding this period of time fun to revisit. Biiiiiig thanks to Jessie for helping me pick the title again!**_

_**The story so far; With Keats finally on trial, the staff of Fenchurch East all took their turn in the dock where he finally had this title, and therefore his power, taken away. However with Evan as his defence lawyer Alex's familiar appearance caused some concern. Finally away from the darkness of Keats and Fenchurch West, Kim accepted a job offer from Gene and finally everyone is together and happy. Surely too happy…**_

_**Of course I don't own Ashes to Ashes. I'm allowed to borrow them for a bit as long as I return them in the condition in which I found them. Erm… I'm not very good at that though :P This fic will probably update every other day, the next update will be on Sunday.**_

_**Thank you so much for reading :)**_


	2. Chapter 1: Worlds Apart

**Chapter 1**

Kim's boots left heavy footsteps down the corridor as she made her way along the familiar route. She was aware of all eyes turning in her direction. Fuck, why were they all staring at her? The jeans had been a mistake, she knew it.

"_Ma'am,"_ Terry nodded his head as he walked by and Kim felt a little taken aback.

"Uh," she cleared her throat, "Hi."

She realised she was having difficulty imagining herself as DCI Kim Stringer of Fenchurch East. She'd been a detective chief inspector back in the real world, and over in the dark side of Fenchurch West, but now that she was back in 1990s Fenchurch East it was hard not to think of herself as the young DS who spent her early days awash with lager and glaring at the Guv.

"Morning, Ma'am," a smiley detective said, even though Kim didn't have a clue who she was.

"Morning," she said nervously. It felt as strange as anything to be back there; back in the station of old, back with friends. An amazing sense of nostalgia washed over her as she passed Simon's door and she smiled to herself. She still felt a little nauseous but her nerves were starting to fade a little.

"_Kim,"_ a warm smile and the reassuring voice sent a very different feeling through Kim's insides as she spun around and saw Alex stepping out of her office.

"_Ma'am,"_ the smile spread across her face as she found herself swept up in a welcoming, warm hug. Kim closed her eyes and relished the feeling of being at home. _God_, it had been so long since she'd felt that way. Between her last, troubled months in the real world after Robin's death and the dark times she'd faced in Fenchurch West the sensation of being in a place where she was loved, valued and safe was a precious one indeed.

"You can't call me that any more," Alex teased, "not now you're heading up the new unit."

"I can't retrain myself!" Kim protested as she stepped back, "not after all these years."

Alex couldn't stop herself from smiling broadly as she took a good look at Kim. The past few weeks and Robin's insistence of caring for her had started to make a real difference. There was colour back in her cheeks again, her bones had a little more meat on them and her hair was once again cropped, spiked and bleached to within an inch of its life. More than that the shirt she was wearing was one of Robin's. Alex recognised it. That was about the strongest sign of unity between a pair who were always supposed to be together that Alex could imagine.

"Ohh, you're looking _so_ much better now," she told Kim with a smile, "you look like _you_ again."

Kim tried to supress a smile and looked away momentarily.

"Not really a good thing" she said.

"Oh, it is," Alex smiled, aware that Kim was looking surprisingly bashful. Not a quality she ever associated with the sharp-tongued blonde. "That's not a blush is it?" she asked suspiciously.

"Don't be silly, it's just hot in here," Kim mumbled, trying to cover her face.

"_Kim!"_

Footsteps heading towards her distracted Kim from her awkwardness and she turned to see Simon lumbering somewhat excitedly in her direction. She found herself almost knocked to the ground by another hug, this one slightly less appreciated.

"Simon, _fucking hell,_ why are you wearing that _bloody jumper?"_ she protested as Simon gave her an over-exaggerated hug to humiliate and annoy her.

"I thought I might as well get it out of the way," he teased, "you can have five free insults."

"Make it five thousand and it might just about start to cover up my distress," she gagged. She felt her stomach lurch as she stepped back and took in the horror of it. "Oh _god_, ten years haven't erased the dread from my memory."

"Please don't let Gene see you in that," Alex groaned, "you haven't worn it in so long we thought you'd packed the jumper away for good!"

"Today's a special day," Simon said defensively.

"At least you haven't still got the leather jacket," Kim commented and Simon flinched.

"No," he said, "I haven't…" he hung his head, slight accident. Red crocodile. Think it thought it was avenging its mummy."

Kim decided not to ask. It wasn't even crocodile leather.

"_Riiiiiight,"_ she said warily, slightly aware that more footsteps were thundering towards them, "What –"

Robin shot down the corridor, an envelope in his hand.

_"Kim!"_ he cried.

"Bloody hell, what now?" Kim was starting to feel a little overwhelmed as Robin thrust the envelope in her direction.

"_It came! It came!"_ he cried.

"If it's a replacement Lister poster I don't want to know," Kim said cautiously but took the envelope regardless. As she tipped it up, a long wooden block fell into her hand. A little smile played on her lips as she turned it over and over. The words _DCI Kim_ Stringer were engraved along its side. "_Rob,"_ she whispered.

"Like your old one," he said quietly, catching her at a weak moment as she looked for all the world like she might actually cry. Although she was as tough as always there was one thing about Kim that had really changed. She had a heart now.

"_Thank you,"_ she whispered. Myriad emotions flooded her veins. It felt like a world ago that she was given her title of DI after passing the hostage negotiation training and with it she was handed the name block that Robin had bought for her. The gesture made her feel nostalgic and hopeful for the future at the same time. Before she could wander into unfamiliar mushy territory she found herself enveloped in a surprise hug as Simon wrapped one arm around her shoulders and the other around Robin's.

"I am _so_ happy," he sighed as Kim eyed him suspiciously.

"First of all, _that's great,"_ she said through gritted teeth, shaking off the sentimentality whilst trying to shake off Simon too, "but you don't have to demonstrate your happiness with physical affection."

"My best friend's back," Simon told her happily. Something had been missing from Simon's life ever since she went home. He'd lost his best friend and the woman he thought of as a sister all in one go.

"Yeah," she said warily, pulling his arm away from her shoulders, "you're just noticing. Not like you came round on Saturday for pizza or last week to watch videos or anything."

"The two people I care about most in the world are _right here,"_ Simon said cheerfully.

"Christ, Simon, have you been drinking?" Robin moaned as he offloaded the arm from around his shoulders.

"He's been drinking," Kim agreed but Simon shook his head.

"Not yet, but I will be," he said, "tonight. Me, you two, a night on the town." He watched both Robin and Kim exchanging a worried glance and mentally processing the best ways to get out of it, "I _told_ you we were going to do this," he said, "you and me, a couple of pubs, a couple of bars, a couple of clubs…"

"Simon, _no_," Robin groaned.

"I'm not really up for that," Kim said reluctantly, "I'm not feeling great to be honest."

"You've had a month to prepare for this," Simon told her.

"You could give me a decade and I still wouldn't be ready."

"Yeah, Si, I think I've done my drinking for one lifetime," Robin cringed, remembering the terrible mistakes he made while apart from Kim.

"Yeah, and I don't know that it's a good idea if me and you go drinking,"" Kim said warily, "remember how much trouble we used to get into? Truth or dare? Gate-crashing Christmas?"

"Oh _no_ ,don't mention the _Worst Christmas Ever_," Alex backed away, "I still have nightmares." She touched Kim gently on the shoulder. "I have to get back to work but I'll come and see how you're getting on later."

"Thanks ma'am, Kim smiled, rolling her eyes as Alex gave her a slightly accusing glance for still using the 'M' word. "I _told_ you! Old habits!"

Simon sighed as Alex made her exit.

"I'm not taking no for an answer," he insisted, "tonight. Booze." He started to walk back towards his office, then glanced around. "By the way, do either of you know who threw a paper plane into my doorway about fifteen minutes ago?"

Kim and Robin glanced towards CID to see Bammo in the doorway looking shifty.

"Nope," said Robin.

"Not a clue," said Kim.

Simon shrugged and departed to his office, leaving Robin and Kim alone.

"You see?" Robin said quietly, "you've only been back ten minutes and look how everyone's treating you. It's like you've never been away."

Kim nodded and gave a distant smile.

"Yeah," she said quietly, "it feels good. It feels right." She was grateful for the hand on her arm that Robin gave her. It made her feel warm and relaxed. She knew that the day was strange for Robin too, he'd been given a month of compassionate leave to look after her while she recuperated and had a lot of odd looks upon his return. He'd disappeared without trace for four weeks.

"Look," he said, "I have to get back down to the canine unit but I'll see you for lunch, yeah?"

Kim nodded with a smile.

"You're still buying," she told him and he blew a raspberry at her.

"We'll see," her told her and she laughed as she watched him disappear towards the stairs.

Kim thrust her hands into her pockets and sighed. Yeah, she really felt like she was where she belonged. Slowly she turned around to the open door of the new Serious Sexual Crime unit and stared ahead. Beyond the open office with its couple of desks and cabinets was a door, on the window of which a name was emblazoned. _DCI Kim Stringer._ She glanced from it to the name block in her hands and felt a peculiar shiver travel down her spine as the door opened for her. It was more than just feeling like she belonged. It was a sense of coming home.

~xXx~

"They're all in here?"

The private detective nodded. As far as assignments went this had been one of the easiest and least invasive he'd ever had. He stirred his tea in the cracked mug and added one last sugar.

"Yup," he said, "photos from the past five days."

Evan's eyes ran across the plain, discreet envelope and then back to the slightly scruffy man.

"And there are close-ups?" he asked.

"Of the face, yeah."

Evan nodded and took a deep breath.

"How much do I owe you?" he asked. The detective supped his tea, reached into his pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper which Evan unfolded. Slightly surprised that the fee was as high as it was Even drew in breath then saw the detective looking somewhat annoyed. He decided he didn't want to tangle with a guy who didn't know how to grow a proper beard so he covered up his annoyance. "That's very reasonable," he mumbled and handed over the cash.

Counting the bundle of notes, the detective nodded and finished his tea in a little over one gulp, then he tucked away his money and got to his feet.

"Hope you've got everything you need," he said, "I'll leave you alone with your beard."

Evan nodded a goodbye and watched the detective leave. He closed his eyes and held the envelope though he knew what he was going to find inside the idea of opening it still terrified him. There was no going back once he did.

A deep breath. A moment of hesitation. Then he slid his finger beneath the flap of the envelope and opened it quickly. Sliding out a pack of photographs he could tell from the moment he laid eyes on the first one that it hadn't been all in his head. The woman on the top photo, smiling at something the camera hadn't seen, was as familiar to him as the one he'd said goodbye to that morning. He swallowed deeply and skimmed to the next picture and the next, one after another, some close up, some from a distance. There might have been an extra few years on the woman he was looking at but not too many to know that the resemblance went beyond a coincidence. They could have been sisters at the very least. He tried to drink the coffee he'd bought, to attempt to steady his nerves, but his hands were shaking so much that he spilled the hot liquid on the topmost image and quickly dried it off with a napkin, swearing as he did so.

A month had passed since the trial that had more or less ended his career. All he had now was the fledgling career in a niche modelling area and his family. Not blood relations of course, but as good as. Alex and little baby Molly, the lights of his life.

"_Alex,"_ he breathed as he closed his eyes, "_Alex Drake_." He took in a slow, deep breath and tried to work out what to do but his mind was as far from being clear and ordered as it could possibly be. Swallowing back a slight feeling of nausea he looked at the pictures in his hand. Coffee-stained or not, the similarity was shocking. DCI Alex Drake could have been his own Alex. He shook his head in fear. _"Who are you?"_ he murmured.

~xXx~

"_Stringer."_

Kim glanced at the clock first and then at the doorway.

"I made it half an hour before you decided to come and unleash the metal jokes on me," she cringed, "not bad for my first day."

"The metal jokes can wait." Gene told her, "urgent case for you."

Kim scrambled to her feet.

"Guv?"

"A serious case of thirst," Gene told her, "Lattes. Ten. Stirrers too. Nothing like drinking all seven sugars in the bottom."

Kim closed her eyes and groaned.

"It's my first_ day!" _she whimpered.

"Exactly," Gene nodded, "what better way to help the new girl settle in?"

"I'm not exactly the new girl," Kim scowled and Gene looked smug.

"Even better," he said, "You've no excuse not to get me latte order right then, have you?"

Kim growled crossly as Gene made a quick exit before she could make good on her promise of fetching her piercing stuff and giving him a reason not to sit down for a week.

"_Bloody latte run,"_ she mumbled, grabbing her jacket. She supposed she'd better do it, for old time's sake as much as anything. Times had changed in her absence but some things, it seemed, were never going to alter.

~xXx~

Robin whistled contentedly to himself as he entered the canine unit. He received a couple of funny looks from those who'd seen him arrive, pick up his post, yell excitedly and disappear again. He didn't even care. It was the first time that he felt truly happy in his work since the day he started. Kim was just a short walk away, not a world away or swallowed by darkness – she was closer than ever and he could feel it in his heart.

"Morning sir," a curious officer greeted him and Robin smirked.

"Morning" he said brightly.

The officer pursued him a few steps.

"Have you been on holiday, sir? He asked, "You haven't been here for a few weeks…"

"Well," Robin smiled, "not a holiday but definitely a well needed break." He continued on his way, humming this time until he stepped through the door to chaos. Dogs were barking, eating things they shouldn't be and generally attempting to behave worse than Nick Nailer. He flinched for a moment. Some fucking brilliant dog unit. Maybe he'd have better luck whipping them into shape now that Kim was there to do the same to him.

"Sir?"

Robin turned to see a PC and his dog close by.

"Morning, David," Robin smiled.

"Enjoy your break?"

Robin beamed.

"Very much," he smiled, "thank you. He paused to pet the dog by his feet. "So you all survived then? No one got eaten? No one got mauled."

"Nah," David half smiled, "Sergeant Granger did a good job in your absence."

"Good," Robin said, then an instance later he froze. "I'm… sorry?"

"Sergeant Granger," David said again, "she was great."

A deep, dark sinking feeling came over Robin, starting in his throat and filling his chest until finally it settled in his stomach like boulders. He swallowed and blinked a few times.

"That's…" he began but the horrible sensation grew even darker. Sergeant Granger… Gene hadn't mentioned Shaz… hadn't said… hadn't told them that everything would be OK. With Kim starting back the two were bound to meet before too long, and with Shaz still under the belief that Kim had died a year and a half ago – "Wh-where is she now?" he asked quickly.

"What? Who?"

"_Shaz!_ Sergeant Granger!"

"_Oh,"_ David looked a little confused about Robin's sudden anxiety, "took the reports from some of the guys up to CID."

"_What?"_

"There was a raid on a warehouse last week –"

"How long ago did she go?"

"Well," David frowned, "Just before _you_ got here. Why?"

"_Shi-i-i-i-i-i-it.."_ Robin cried as he turned around and started to run. Everything was OK. He was sure of it. It _had_ to be. Gene wouldn't make a mistake like that, would he? But then, Robin realised, these were completely unique circumstances. And there was a first time for everything.

~xXx~

Shaz knocked on the door but there was no response. She sighed and rolled her eyes as she heard a voice from behind her.

"Guv's not there."

"I know that _now,"_ Shaz turned around and saw Marci taking a seat with some kind of list in her hand. She smiled at Shaz as she shuffled her chair under the desk. "Where is he, babe?"

"Should be back soon," Marci smiled, "said something about getting a metal detector?" she shrugged, "I've given up asking what goes on around here."

"Can I leave these with you?" Shaz asked, setting her files on Marci's desk.

"Sure thing," Marci said before she turned around as she heard footsteps marching toward them. At first she expected to see Gene but unless he'd managed to grow a very horrible beard in the last half an hour she'd made an incorrect assumption. Both Marci and Shaz had been called as witnesses in Keats's trial and although Evan hadn't spoken to them at length they both remembered him. There was no forgetting that facial hair. Unfortunately. However, far from his smarmy court persona the man heading towards them looked flushed and flustered. Shaz felt a little concerned.

"Is everything alright sir?" she asked as Evan gripped the side of Marci's desk slightly out of breath. He tried to gulp in some air as he pulled one of the photographs from his pocket and held it toward the two young women.

"This woman," he panted, "You know her?"

Marci and Shaz exchanged a look.

"Of… course we do," Marci frowned.

"What's her name?" Evan demanded which confused them both considering they knew he'd seen her at the trial.

"That's the Ma'am," Marci shrugged, "DCI Drake."

"Her first name?"

Marci nervously twirled her hair around her finger and got to her feet.

"I thought you knew her already," she said, a little anxiously.

"Alex," Evan panted, "Is her name Alex Drake?"

Shaz started to move toward the phone.

"I think you should leave, Sir," she said anxiously, "you're getting upset."

"I just need confirmation of the identity of this woman!" Evan demanded as Shaz reached for the receiver.

"I'm calling security," she said, shaken, but before she had a chance the thump of Gene-sized footsteps arrived.

"Don't bother," he said, "they're already following this fuzzy-faced prick."

Evan spun around.

"DCI Hunt," he began darkly.

"This gentleman's been asking questions about DCI Drake," Shaz said pointedly, well aware that something wasn't right, and Gene's eyebrows rose.

"Oh he _has_, has he?" he demanded, lumbering forward, "funny that, since I just got a call from the front desk telling me the same thing. Used his status to persuade the poor lad on the desk to let him through. That bloke's going to need years of therapy after hearing the phrase "_let me through and I'll show you the secret of growing a beard like mine.""_

"I just have a few questions for her," Evan protested as Gene stepped forward, counting off some possible questions on his fingers, "no she's not single, yes she's seeing someone, no she's not going to go for a ride on the beardy rollercoaster ride that is a date with Evan White. Now kindly take her festering chin and shove it somewhere we don't have to take a second look at it."

"I need to speak to her," Evan insisted feebly.

"You need a bloody good shave and a lobotomy," Gene told him, "_Out!"_

"_Gene!"_ Another flurry of footsteps made them turn as Robin barrelled through the doorway, "Gene, Shaz is on her way –"

"Erm, already made it, sir," Shaz piped up as Robin froze. He looked from Shaz to Gene, stricken, trying to think if something to say.

"Uh…" he swallowed, "Gene… do you… really think it's a good idea…"

Before he could continue how sentence a voice came towards them.

"What on earth is going on in here?" An angry Alex stomped towards the ruckus, "you sound like a school class whose teacher is late to the lesson!" just as a Rushing Kim blundered into the office, tray of lattes in hand.

"_One word_ about me being late and I'm going to go and string up the twat who gave me espressos instead," she stormed, barely raising her head as she followed Alex through the door, only looking up as she heard Evan's voice gasping;

"_Alex?"_

A frozen Alex looked at him in shock. Through the trial she'd kept her distance as well as her disguise but there was no escaping him now.

"Evan?" she whispered in fear.

"_What?"_ Kim cried, looking up and spotting the beard.

The instant her face rose, the world of a young brunette shattered.

"_Kim?"_

Kim's entire body froze as her heart beat hard.

"Sh-Shaz," she gasped.

A second of absolute silence descended.

Then reality exploded and everything went black.


	3. Chapter 2: Flat Out

**Chapter 2**

"Why… the _fuck_… did I ever want to be the designated first aid officer for CID?" Jake panted as he ran around the office from one motionless body to another, trying to work out what to do for the best.

He'd been out of the office when it happened. He'd barely noticed anything; a slight tingle down his spine, a shudder, maybe a strange smell in the air like static. He was aware of the silence as he made his way down the corridor and arrived to find CID looking like a morgue. He didn't know who to attend to first until he saw Marci lying on the ground beside her desk where she'd fallen, unconscious, from her chair.

_"Marci!"_ he cried as he ran to her, "Come on, Marci, you're OK, you're OK," he checked that she was breathing then checked her pulse. She seemed alright in every respect apart from the fact that she, like everyone else, was out cold. Before he could attempt to revive her he heard an alarmed cry from nearby and looked up to see Robin, now awake, with Kim in his lap.

_"Help!"_ he cried, "she's unconscious, Kim's unconscious!" he turned to Jake, _"do_ something!"

Jake swallowed, upset by the concern across Robin's face. He couldn't help it. He'd already closed things down with Robin long ago but seeing his distress for the woman he'd been pining over stung his heart.

"What do you want _me_ to do?" he mumbled, slightly unsure what to even say.

_"Wake her up!"_ Robin cried.

"I'm not a hypnotist, I can't snap my fingers and bring her out of it!" Jake protested, "they're all out cold!"

Robin stared at Kim's face, suddenly pale and cold to the touch.

"Come on, Kim," he murmured as he tried rubbing then tapping her cheek. He looked at Jake. "Smelling salts."

"What?"

"I need smelling salts!"

"I'll just magic some up from thin air, shall I?" Jake cried, more flustered than he'd ever been in his life.

"Gene has some," Robin told him, "they're in his desk." He pointed to the office door. _"Go!"_

"Right," Jake muttered as he got to his feet and ran across to it. He tugged on the handle and shook it a few times but to no avail. "Locked."

"He _never_ locks his door," Robin cried.

"Well there's a first time for everything, isn't there?" cried Jake, giving it one last push for good measure.

Robin glanced across at Gene as he lay on the ground, out for the count.

"He must have the key in his pocket!" he cried, "you've got to find it."

"I'm not rooting around in _there_!" Jake protested.

"Why not?"

"No _idea_ what you're gonna find!" cried Jake.

"Oh come _on_, you're supposed to be the first aider!" Robin cried and as Jake looked at his frantic expression he started to feel somewhat guilty. Closing his eyes, he gave a very deep sigh.

"_Fine_," he mumbled, "but you're going to owe me for this,"

"_Fine,"_ Robin hissed, turning his attention back to Kim. He stroked her hair as she lay in his lap, hoping that whatever had rendered her unconscious would let her open her eyes again soon. "Come on, Kim, wake up for me. You're scaring me."

Jake hovered over Gene, pulling a slight face. The man smelt of scotch and cars.

"You owe me for this, Robin," he mumbled again as he started to reach into Gene's pocket, pulling a face as though reaching into a box of brains at a Halloween funhouse. "Oh _urgh_, I think I just found the remains of his breakfast."

"Just find the _key!"_ Robin urged as Jake risked delving into Gene's top pocket at the wrong moment. A pair of shocked blue eyes sprung open and Jake found himself at the receiving end of a very dirty look.

"I _thought_ it had been too long since one of me team decided to _molest_ me!" he cried, rising furiously into a sitting position and then scrambling to his feet.

"Gene, you're OK?" Robin cried.

_"Barely!"_ Gene cried, "I had Dawson's sticky fingers loosening me top button!"

"They're not sticky and I was doing no such thing!" cried Jake, "I was looking for your key!"

"Kim's out cold, she needs your smelling salts," Robin told Gene

"You'll have a bloody job," Gene told him, "Don't have them any more. Bammo gave them to the woman with the fat arse in the canteen."

"What? _Why?"_ cried Robin, "overcome with the scent of sprouts?"

"Tried to get round her for extra portions. Told her it was potpourri."

"_Shit,"_ Robin closed his eyes.

Gene blinked and looked around the office, still full of the unconscious.

"Blimey," he huffed, "like a remake of _Village of the Damned."_

"Oh come _on_, it's not that bad," Robin said, more to comfort himself than anything, "it's not like we're going to start shooting out blonde-haired offspring at any minute."

"Well I know who the first one down the maternity ward's gonna be," Gene eyed him warily, "I've heard about you and yer beans."

"_Hmmf?"_ A murmur from Marci took Jake rushing in her direction.

"_Marci!"_ he cried, "Marci, are you OK?"

"_Hmmpff,"_ Marci mumbled, rubbing the side of her head, "God, what happened? I was just at my desk…"

"You must have fainted," Jake told her, "You… _all_ did," he frowned and glanced around, "what _happened_ in here?"

"I don't know," Marci mumbled as Jake helped her sit upright and checked an emerging lump on the side of her head, "_ow!"_

"Sorry," Jake mumbled as he drew away. He looked at Gene, "Guv? What happened in here? There… there might be fumes or something… you should think about evacuating…"

"Shaz?"

Jake looked back at a confused Marci

"Sorry?"

"Shaz…" Marci said again, "where did she go?"

"What?" Robin asked flatly, a strange lump of anxiety appearing in his throat.

"She was right here," Marci said, pointing to the spot beside her, "she was here, she was standing next time when the bearded thing…" she peered at the fuzzy-chinned body on the ground, "came bursting in, letting his mouth run away with him… god, he's got a gob and a half, hasn't he?"

"I see you've met Evan White in a less formal situation," Gene said, rolling his eyes. He stopped momentarily and looked around. "Bolly –"

Robin swallowed as he followed Gene's lead and started to look around the room.

"Oh… shit," he bit his lip, "Where –"

"Alright, what's going on?" Jake demanded, standing and waving his arms as though directing traffic.

"She was _there_…" Robin began as Gene's face turned deathly white.

"Yes," he said stiffly "she _was_."

"She can't be far," Marci said quietly, "maybe… maybe Shaz and the Ma'am went for help? When we passed out?"

"Why _did_ you pass out?" Jake demanded, "what were you doing?"

"_Nothing_," Marci put her hands to her head, "I just don't get what happened."

"_I_ do," Gene mumbled and rubbed his temples. He started looking around a little more frantically. Alex had vanished. She'd vanished the moment she and Evan confronted one another, the same with Kim and Shaz. Now Kim was unconscious and Shaz was – well, he had less idea where Shaz was than how the woman from the canteen fell for Bammo's lies about the smelling salts.

He swallowed as a dreadful, sick sensation fell over hm. The last time Alex had vanished she had gone back to her old body and had woken up in the real world. But she was long dead and gone from there now. She had no body to return to. So where the hell _was_ she?

"Split up," he barked, "comb the station. We're looking for a posh bird and a young lady with a pocket full o' dog treats."

"I'm not leaving Kim," Robin said crossly. He looked at her closed eyes, "what's the matter with her? Why won't she wake up?"

Gene looked at Kim. It was the only time he could be sure she wouldn't come back at him with something worse if he threw an insult his way. Somehow that took the fun out of it. He swallowed. At least she was still _there_ and that was _something_.

"Give her a whiff of beardy's armpits," he nodded toward Evan, "that'll do the trick." No sooner had he finished talking than Kim began to whimper and stir. "Or the _threat_ of it alone will."

"_Kim,"_ Robin whispered, shaking her gently. Kim groaned a little, unsure what was happening and opened her eyes, drawing back in shock as she found herself in Robin's lap.

"Rob? What –" she began, blinking a few times before her mouth dropped open. "Shit, _Shaz…"_

"Where _is_ Shaz?" Marci cried, her worries still strong.

Kim closed her eyes again, swallowing hard. Her heartbeat was ringing in her ears so loudly that for a horrible moment she thought she was gong to pass out again but Robin's alarmed tone brought her back to reality.

"Kim… _Kim?!"_

"_What?"_ she whispered, snapping back to her body.

"How do you feel?" Robin asked worriedly.

Kim wasn't sure.

"Like I just tried to sit through a while episode of Eldorado," she mumbled, rubbing her forehead.

Jake helped Marci to her feet and they began to walk toward the door.

"Come on," he said, "we'll find Shaz – and DCI Drake. I'll check down at the front desk, you check the rest of CID."

"Um," Marci and Jake stopped in their tracks as Simon arrived in the doorway, "did I hear you say you were, uh, looking for Shaz?"

"_Yes,"_ Marci cried urgently.

Simon swallowed.

"It's… it's OK," he said, "I know where she is.

"Oh thank _god_," Marci closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Where is she then?" asked Jake and Simon began to look distinctly nervous.

"Umm," he began before he finally took in the scene around him; a selection of dusty people who's been flat out on the floor, Kim still lying in Robin's lap and a beard, unconscious, getting carpet prints on the small part of his face still visible. He thought what _he_ had to report was weird enough. Now it had gone into a whole other layer of bizarreness. He glanced around and tried to catch Gene's eye. "Shaz is… is _fine,"_ he began pointedly, "she's in my office. I've given her a glass of water." He paused "she's… not really feeling herself today."

"Oh poor girl, I'd better see if everything's OK," Marci began but Simon blocked her route.

"I really don't think you should," he said anxiously but before he had a chance to make sure that neither Marci nor Jake saw anything they shouldn't some clip-clopping heels came down the corridor as a very different-looking Shaz arrived in the doorway, frantic and breathless.

"I _told_ you," she cried, landing a slap against Simon's cheek, "I want to see Chris and I want to see him _now!"_

"_Chris?"_ Marci's expression wavered between worry and a frown, "Who's Chris?"

Shaz's eyes turned to Marci.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"What?" Marci swallowed.

"What?" Shaz repeated.

"_What's going on?"_ Jake demanded as Simon attempted to hide Shaz with the width of his jumper.

"I told you, she's not feeling herself right now," Simon flustered, "you should let her rest for a while.

"I don't need to rest," Shaz pushed him out of the way and hissed through gritted teeth, "I need to find Chris." She looked around the room at all the unfamiliar faces, terrified, frantic. Finally she saw someone she recognised and headed straight to him "What's going _on_ Guv?"

Gene stared back at her. He wished he knew.

"You tell me, Granger," he blinked, his head in a mess.

"Where's Chris?" Shaz asked again, "where's Ray? And why are people lying on the floor?"

Gene took a deep breath, wishing he was still one of them. Being unconscious seemed preferable to facing the strangeness abounding. He shook his head. This was all starting to feel somewhat familiar. An image of Nelson in his _I Love London_ garb came back to him and he cringed the deepest cringe of his life.

"_Bugger,"_ he declared.


	4. Chapter 3: Quick Drinks

**Chapter 3**

"_No, just give her some air."_

Alex was vaguely aware of voices as her senses started to slip back into place. She wasn't sure where she was or what was going on. She couldn't really make sense of the last few moments. He knew she wasn't very comfortable though. That was clear. Her eyes very slowly opened as her body wriggled on the hard, wooden floor and she heard voices again.

"_I mean it - stand back a bit, you'll give her heart attack leaning over her!"_

"_Maybe a little of the best stuff from behind the bar?"_

"_Maybe wait until she's conscious enough to drink it first."_

"What's happening?" she murmured, "where am I?" the room swirled around her as her vision started to clear and she saw first of all the ceiling, followed by two familiar faces that made her gasp and scramble into a sitting position. "Oh my _god,"_ she gasped, "What the _hell_ am I doing here?" she blinked a couple of times to make sure she was really seeing them; a concerned Nelson and a somewhat stressed Sam Tyler peering at her. "Oh god, am I dead?" she groaned. She didn't remember dying. Then again, she didn't really remember much about what happened at all.

"Nelson," Sam turned to him, "I think it might be time for that glass of the best stuff after all."

"A good decision," Nelson agreed, setting off to find the bottle.

Left alone, Alex looked at Sam in a mix of confusion and horror.

"So _am_ I?" she asked, "Dead, I mean?"

"Doesn't look like it," Sam told her as he crouched beside her.

"Then what am I doing here?"

"That's what we need to find out," Sam said. He reached out to help her up and, unsteadily, Alex managed to get to her feet. She walked slowly to the bar where Nelson had poured her a measure of something Gene-approved. She took it in shaking hands as she sat on a stool and sipped it

"Thanks," she whispered. She stared into the glass, watching reflections jumping around in the liquid as she tried to calm her breathing a little bit. "So I'm definitely not dead?" she whispered.

"Didn't exactly come in through the front door," Sam told her.

"How did I get here then?" Alex asked anxiously.

"Slipped in under cover of darkness," Sam explained. Alex's blank expression prompted further explanation. "The lights went out. Nelson went to change a fuse. When the lights came back on everyone else was gone and you were lying on the floor in their place." He nodded across the room. "Well, you and the other one."

"What other one…?" Alex began questioningly as she looked across the pub to see Shaz sprawled across the floor like she'd had one too many. "Oh my god, _Shaz_…" she looked at Sam in a panic, "is she OK?"

"Same as you," Sam explained, "Fine, but asleep. Very deeply asleep."

"Shit," Alex chewed on her fingernails as she tried to take it all in.

"Sometimes the first step to going home is to work out why we left in the first place," Nelson told her. She looked at him questioningly. "What are the last memories in your pretty head, Alex?"

Alex's eyes darted around as she tried to remember.

"I'm not exactly sure," she said quietly.

"If Gene's snoring is getting that bad that you need to take a long lie down in the afterlife to catch up on your sleep then he really needs to get that seen to," Sam told her and she gave a little smile.

"No," she said, "it's nothing to do with Gene _or_ his snoring," she closed her eyes and tried to remember, "I was at work, it was an important day." She sucked gently on her lip. "There… there was a racket. I didn't know what was happening but it sounded like some kind of row. Or Bammo had been sniffing the smelling salts again," she opened her eyes and drew in a very deep breath. "So, I went to CID," she continued, "there was… somebody there who I…" with a little gasp and a gulp it came back to her, flashing into her head like a thunderbolt, "oh my _goodness_, no," she whispered.

"What?" Sam asked, "You've remembered something?"

"It was Evan," Alex said quietly. She realised two sets of confused eyes were staring at her. "Evan White, my godfather… not that _he_ knows that of course… at least he _didn't_… I hope he still doesn't…"

Sam scratched his head, a migraine about to begin.

"I'm glad I'm the one who did most of the talking in our sessions, I'm not sure I can take much more of this," he told her and Alex scowled at him.

"Did you know there was a time I actually felt sorry for you spending seven years with Gene?" she began, "turns out I had those sentiments reversed."

"Your memories, young lady?" Nelson prompted and Alex nodded, hanging her head a little. She mustn't get distracted.

"Yes, of course," she whispered, "I was… I walked into the office and Evan was there. He's my godfather and… when I first arrived, many years ago, I met him. The younger him. The version of me that he knew back then was only a child. There was no resemblance there, not really. But when we went to court last month…" she looked at Sam and then Nelson in turn, "I tried to disguise myself but I was sure at the time he saw through it. I think I was right." She shook her head, "there was no reason for him to be in the office… he was _looking_ for me. He'd figured…" she swallowed, "he realised something was going on. Going _wrong_." She corrected as she thought about the moment. A second memory came back to her, "Oh god, no…"

"What?"

"I wasn't the only one who…" she peered at Shaz across the pub, "oh _no."_

"Think she needs another glass of the best stuff," Sam prompted and Nelson topped her up.

"Poor Shaz," Alex whispered.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked, increasingly concerned.

Alex's lips flickered into a sad smile.

"She just came face to face with a dead woman," she whispered.

"Par for the course," Sam pointed out.

"Not like this," Alex whispered she hung her head, "I think," she whispered, "the truth is out."

Nelson looked at Sam whose expression was as confused as ever.

"How much truth?" he asked.

Alex exhaled, clinging to her glass.

"Shaz," she said quietly, "was very close to a young lady who found her way home," she sighed, "then found her way back. The problem is that the way she left…" she looked at the two men, "Kim was given a funeral and Shaz has grieved for her for a year and a half."

"Ahh," Sam was beginning to see the problem.

"We didn't expect that Kim would ever be able to return," Alex explained further, "and somehow… when she did… and Gene offered her a job we just… didn't even think about the complications."

"That sounds like a bit a of big mistake for Gene to make," Sam said warily.

"I don't think the decision was down to him," Alex whispered, feeling quite cold suddenly, "her office appeared; he had no choice but to employ her. I don't thin he would have chosen her to head the new unit. She has a habit of," she coughed, "borrowing… Gene's things… And as for Shaz," she bit her lip as she glanced at her again, "none of us thought about it. Not one of us. There's _no_ chance that everyone would have forgotten about to."

"And yet here you are," Nelson pointed out.

"The world's messed up," Alex whispered, considering the options, "or it's done this on purpose," she bit her lip and closed her eyes, "the question is, _why?"_

"Now might not be the best time to voice the possibilities," Sam said, nudging her and nodding in the direction of Shaz as she gently stirred. With a deep breath Alex knocked back the last of her scotch and got to her feet. She had no idea what she was going to say to the poor girl but she knew Shaz was going to have questions.

She crouched down by her side as Shaz pulled herself into an upright position and began to look around her.

"Where… what's happening?" she swallowed.

"Shaz, it's alright," Alex tried to offer her a comforting smile but when it was laden with so much worry it was fairly ineffective. Shaz looked at her, then around the pub.

"I know this place," she whispered, "I've been here before." She swallowed, "what happened? How did I get here?"

Alex tried desperately to find a good answer to that. Unfortunately she failed.

"I," she cleared her throat, "You passed out so I thought," she flinched, "that I would bring you here… to buy you a drink?"

"I've woken up here before," Shaz didn't seem to hear Alex's embarrassing lie, "when… you saved my life and…" she swallowed, "I feel strange, Ma'am," she said.

"Bound to feel a little strange," Alex tried to smile, "you've been unconscious for a little while."

"But I don't know how…" Shaz began before a look of panic spread across her face. Her expression fell and her skin turned almost grey. "Oh my _god…"_

Alex bit her lip nervously.

"Let's get you that drink, hmm?" she tried to distract her but that was impossible.

"_Kim…"_ Shaz breathed, her eyes as wide as the moon, "It was Kim…" she looked up at Alex, angry and tearful, "You said she died, Ma'am" she cried, "we had a funeral!"

Alex was stricken. This was a unique situation and she had no idea what to say.

"I know," she whispered "I know, Shaz…"

"How is that possible?" Shaz panicked, tears appearing in her eyes, "she was _dead!_ We _buried_ her!"

"Shaz, _listen_," Alex cried, "It wasn't…. wasn't Kim…" she thought fast, "it was her sister. It was her older sister." That seemed plausible, "the family resemblance –"

"Even if they were _twins_ the family resemblance wouldn't be that strong!" cried Shaz, "I _know_ Kim! _Knew_ her…" she flinched at those words, "I remember every mole on her body. I remember every inch of her face. I would know her anywhere and _that_ was Kim." She scrambled up as Nelson furnished her with a drink which she consumed at speed and panted a little. "I said her name and she said mine!" she reminded Alex, "how would she know my name if she wasn't Kim?"

Alex didn't have an answer for that.

_"Shaz,"_ she said quietly, a look of sympathy on her face.

"Have you been lying to me?" Shaz whispered, shaking with anger.

"Oh Shaz…" Alex tried to respond but there just weren't words.

"You're not denying it," she trembled.

"It's not that easy," Alex began but squealed in shock as Shaz struck her across the face.

"That's enough," Sam pulled her back as her anger and devastation began to grow.

"Have you all been lying to me since the day you said she died?" she demanded, "or were you the only one who knew she wasn't really dead?" she pulled away from Sam's grip, "what was it? Was she undercover?"

"_Yes,"_ Alex said quickly, the age-old lie, "she was undercover."

"But there were _witnesses!"_ Shaz cried, talking herself out of the idea as soon as she suggested it, "they saw her stabbed… they saw her _die_…"

"She was very seriously ill –"

"She wouldn't have gone into an undercover operation," Shaz shook her head, "not without telling me, Or if she knew she had to then she wouldn't have become so close to me, I know that!"

"Sometimes we can't control what happens to us," Alex whispered, her own eyes starting to fill with tears.

"You told me she was dead and you let me _grieve!"_ Shaz's anger spilled over and she began to scream, "you left me in that state for months when all it would have taken was one quiet word!"

"I couldn't tell you she wasn't dead," Alex whispered, "because you'd have wanted to see her, and that wouldn't be possible."

"If her life was in danger or it was the job I would have understood –"

Alex shook her head, crying a silent tear. She felt an arm around her shoulder as Nelson gently invited her back to the bar while Sam told Shaz to calm down and received a matching red cheek to Alex's for his trouble. With Shaz's words still ringing in her head, Alex found herself with another drink in her hands. She shook her head and gave Nelson a tiny smile.

"No," she whispered, "no thank you. I think I need to stop with what I've had. I need a clear head for this."

"She needs to know the truth," Nelson told her and Alex nodded

"Yes" she said quietly, "yes, she does."

Nelson glanced over at Shaz who was ranting at Sam and threatening to stamp on his foot.

"How are you going to tell her?" he asked and Alex drew in her breath.

"_Gently,"_ she whispered.


	5. Chapter 4: Broken Time

**Chapter 4**

Slowly, cautiously, Alex walked across to Shaz who was sitting in a booth, calmer but wearing an expression that stung Alex's heart to see. She looked angry, hurt and devastated, and Alex couldn't blame her. She looked up as Alex neared her.

"Don't worry," she said quietly, "I won't hit you again." She hung her head, "I'm sorry, Ma'am."

Alex shook her head slowly.

"I understand why you did it," she told her gently, "And I'm so sorry. I can't imagine how you must have felt…" she shook her head. The thought of what Shaz had gone through in the moment she saw Kim was too much to think about. She sat down by her side as Nelson placed a glass of something in Shaz's hands.

"The good stuff," he said with a warm smile, "from behind the bar."

Shaz gave him a brief but grateful smile and downed most of the drink in one gulp. She choked a little and pulled a face.

"You weren't joking, were you?" she exclaimed as it almost blew her head away. She spluttered and cleared her throat as Nelson took the glass away. Her eyes were full of questions and knew that Alex was the only one who could give her answers. "What's going on, ma'am?" she whispered and Alex swallowed.

"Shaz," she began quietly, "do you believe in… parallel universes?"

Shaz looked alarmed.

"DCI Shoebury's video collection…"

"No, no, I'm not talking about his penchant for Red Dwarf," Alex reassured Shaz before she went deep into thought. "Shaz, how do you feel about that possibility? That there are other dimensions similar to our own out there?"

"I have no idea, and this isn't a good time to think about it," Shaz rubbed her forehead, not sure she liked where this was going. She felt like she could smell bullshit and Alex knew this was going to be almost impossible to explain.

"Shaz," she whispered, "do you remember the day… the arsonist… what he tried to do to you, with a screwdriver? When you caught him trying to steal that car…"

"Yes, of course I remember," Shaz said quietly, the memory still haunted her sometimes.

"Do you remember what happened afterwards?" Alex asked her.

"Of course," Shaz frowned.

"Tell me."

Shaz frowned

"Is this some kind of game?"

"Please?"

Crossly, Shaz closed her eyes for a moment.

"I thought I was about to die," she whispered.

"You _did_ die," Alex whispered before she could stop herself and saw Shaz's alarmed expression, "but not that day," she clarified.

"I know I'm going to die one day," Shaz frowned, "everybody will." But Alex shook her head.

"Not here, "she whispered, "in the –" she swallowed, "In another place. Another world, just like this one," she was careful not to say 'the real world'. She didn't want Shaz to feel any less tangible than she already felt. And besides, Alex thought to herself, it wasn't clear what _was_ real any more. "Another you. Another Shaz died that day," Alex whispered. She swallowed, "so she came here. To another place where she could live the life she lost too soon."

Shaz's face visibly paled.

"What?"

"I know this sounds incredible," Alex told her, laying a hand against her arm, "believe me, I've been there. But you have to listen to me, Shaz." She bowed her head. "sometimes people deserve another chance," she whispered, "they die too soon, or with big issues to deal with. Or," her voice broke a little, "they're hovering between life and death and they need a place to come, to stay strong while their body fights."

Shaz stared at Alex, her eyes widening with every word.

"Are you saying I'm dead?" she whispered, not even sure what to make of that.

"No," Alex said quickly, "no, Shaz, you are so full of life and very, very much alive," she gave her a fond smile. There were tears in her eyes as she tried to explain, "but another you… a you from another place, a world just like this one," she swallowed, "she wasn't so lucky that day. She… she died at the end of the screwdriver," she saw Shaz flinch but she had to go on, the truth was the only way now. "So she came here," she whispered, "not to the same time. To another year. The early eighties. To carry on her life from where she left off." The look on Shaz's face was priceless. Alex had never seen the expression before, "She… fell in love, got a promotion, made some friends," A sad smile grew across Alex's face. She adored Shaz but there was always a little part of her that missed her _own_ Shaz, the dear friend who'd helped her to keep her spirits up through those early, difficult years in Gene's world. "She made some very _good_ friends," she whispered, "she lived her life, just as you're living yours…" she swallowed, "until one day she'd done her growing up, she'd done her living and it was time to be at peace. So Gene, DCI Hunt, took her to -" she flinched. _'The pub'_ never stopped sounding trite. Instead, she indicated the building around them. "It sounds strange, I know, believe me. But that's what happens, isn't it? To us. Coppers," she wiped her eye, "Job done, time for a drink."

"And this is…" Shaz glanced around.

"Don't say 'heaven', the beer mats aren't clean enough for that," Sam interjected.

"He's right anyway," Alex told her, "I don't know how much you can consider it heaven but…" she gave a sad smile, "it's the next step. You move on. You reunite with people you've said goodbye to long ago. And one day… when we're ready… Gene and I will join everyone we've already brought here." She paused. "But that day isn't here yet."

Shaz looked down, trying to take everything in. It felt like the strangest, most complex story in the world and she wanted to accuse Alex of lying and spinning her a tale but who would go to that much trouble making up such an ethereal fantasy to cover up for Kim?

"Ma'am," she began shakily, "even if that's true it doesn't explain how she… how Kim…"

Alex closed her eyes and bowed her head.

"I know," she said quietly. She took a deep breath and continued; "it had been a very long time since I'd said goodbye to the Shaz I knew," she whispered, "and I missed her often. I knew that I wasn't going to see her again until the day that Gene and I arrive on the doorstep here. And then, one day," there were tears forming now, "someone very special to me introduced me to her new girlfriend and I found myself looking at a very familiar face." She sniffed a little, recalling the day in Latte Land that Kim had introduced them, as well as the day they'd literally run into each other shortly before it. "It had never happened before… meeting someone we had worked with all over again, before they died. There was no precedent for it, Shaz, and neither of us knew what to do. We knew you were close to the end… to the day you had died in another world, but we already knew there was no changing the past." Alex's heart was racing, "but I had to try because I couldn't stand back and let it happen. Not to you. Not to Kim." She swallowed, "She loved you very much and to see the two of you together, knowing your time was limited…"

"Didn't you know Kim was going to die too?" Shaz asked.

"I don't think you've understood, Shaz," Alex told her, "Kim wasn't dead." She took a deep breath. "She was from the re- from _another_ world. The same one I was from." She watched Shaz's expression change as she realised that Alex, too, had passed away. "She was very gravely ill. She'd been stabbed and was comatose. She might have only been unconscious for a couple of days back home but she stayed here for more than a year." She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering the little powerball of angst that Kim used to be and the strong, tough woman she became, "and over that time she did what she had to. She became stronger. She proved her worth as a very valuable part of our station. More than that she fell in love with a young lady who made her very happy," she saw a wobbly smile finally appear on Shaz's face, "but one day," Alex whispered, "the time came for Kim to go home. There were people who needed her more than this world did. So she faced her final hurdle and brought her life here full-circle. She was stabbed. Here. Again. Everything we told you about that day was true. The only thing that wasn't…" Alex bit her lip, trying to reign in her emotions, "the only thing that wasn't," she continued eventually, "was that Kim hadn't died. She _would_ have done… a moment longer and her body here would have been still and lifeless, but her body back in her own world had healed and it was time for her to return."

"Ma'am," Shaz shook her head, her brow furrowed, "I don't understand what you're talking about. I don't understand any of this."

"You're not on your own," Alex said quietly, "None of us really understand. No matter how long we've been here. Kim was just stopping by, to grow strong while her body recovered in her own world. When it had grown strong enough she went home and led her own life. She struggled, I'll be honest with you. And for a very long time she never loved anyone the way she loved you."

Shaz thought about Alex's words. She blinked as one sentence stood out.

"For a very long time?" she repeated, Alex nodded and Shaz bit her lip. "But… eventually?"

Alex nodded.

"Eventually."

Shaz went very quiet as she stared at the floor. A sudden revelation came over her as she the events of the past few weeks; Robin's sudden compassionate leave, his arrival in the office just before she had seen Kim again. With a hand to her mouth she gasped and her eyes widened.

"Chief Inspector Thomas…" she whispered. Alex's awkward nod confirmed it and Shaz's stomach rolled. "No…"

"They met because they had both been here," Alex told her.

"Kim's a lesbian, Ma'am," Shaz said.

"I know. _They_ know. It just happened."

Shaz closed her eyes and swallowed as she remembered Robin's drunken attempt at sleeping with her. She shook her head.

"Jesus Christ," she mumbled in embarrassment and shame.

"I think another glass of the best stuff might be a good idea at this juncture," Alex raised her eyebrows towards the bar and Sam nodded.

"Might as well bring the bottle," he sighed, seeing the traumatised expression on Shaz's face.

"I do know that until she met Robin there had only ever been one person Kim loved," Alex told her softly, "and she thought about you often."

Shaz swallowed. She wasn't sure how much she understood – nor believed – what Alex was telling her but there were other things she needed to know.

"She looks older," She whispered and Alex nodded.

"She is," she said quietly "nine years had passed since she went home." She saw Shaz gratefully accept another drink, "she came back six months ago –"

"Six _months_?" Shaz cried, spilling half the scotch across the floor.

"Maybe switch to a less expensive bottle," Sam muttered, heading back to the bar.

"Shaz, I'm sorry, I know it looks like we were all keeping this from you-"

"You _were!"_

"Well, _yes_… technically we were," Alex cringed, "but it wasn't that easy. Kim was never supposed to come back. Not while people would remember her. Not while people who were close to her would know who she was."

"People like me," Shaz said flatly.

Alex nodded.

"You're an anomaly," she said as Shaz found her glass refilled by a slightly inferior brand. She didn't care; she just wanted them to keep the alcohol coming by that point.

"Oh _good_," she cried, "first I'm dead, then I'm _not_ dead, then my girlfriend's changed lanes and now I'm a bloody anomaly!"

"Listen to me," Alex told her firmly. The time for gentle talk was over, "when I saved your life I changed the past. Or… perhaps a better way of putting it… was that I cheated fate. You were one of the people who lived in this world long before…_ future immigrants_ like myself arrived. This is _your_ world. Your _real_ world. To me, to Kim, to Robin… it's not the place we were born, it's the place we found ourselves unexpectedly. We have a job to do. You would have died that day… maybe gone to another world… maybe the circle just goes on forever," Alex closed her eyes as she considered the layers of reality. She thought about her coma within a coma, and Kim and Gene going through the same. Even Simon had made comment to experiencing something similar. Which world was real? "Either way," she whispered, "you survived. And Kim…" she looked at Shaz seriously, "she took a very bold step to get back here." She noticed Sam shuffled uncomfortably and threw him a glare. "Yes, you were a trend setter," she commented.

"First time for everything," Sam told her.

"Second," Alex corrected, "you remember Simon's leather jacket, don't you…?"

"Are you saying Kim killed herself?"

Shaz's question was blunt, her voice flat and dark.

"She _endeavoured_ to get here," Alex told Shaz quietly, "to stop Keats from destroying us. To protect people she cared about. And now he's no longer a threat Kim is able to be where she belongs." She hesitated. "But none of us considered the consequences. And I'm not sure why that is. Unless…" she bit her lip as Shaz took another drink, "Unless somehow you were supposed to find out."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure," Alex said quietly, "but you're already special. You're unique."

Shaz finally looked Alex in the eye. She gave a wobbly smile.

"I think I like being special better than being an anomaly," she admitted and Alex laughed. Finally seeing a little of the initial anger pass from Shaz's expression she took the opportunity to give the girl a hug which Shaz reluctantly admitted she needed. She wished that she could understand a little more of what had been told – there were question marks over every aspect of the situation – but certain things started to make sense – the secrecy, the instantaneous staffing changes she'd never questioned before. There had always been something strange about the station, ever since she moved to Fenchurch East. She didn't understand how things worked or what the nature of her role in the place was but she began to understand that Fenchurch East was more than just a police station.

"Shaz," Alex said with quiet seriousness as she moved back and looked at her, "this is very, very important. Everything that I've told you today… it has to stay between us."

Shaz swallowed, unsure how she could ever keep such a secret.

"But –"

"You must never tell another soul because that's exactly what they are – souls," Alex looked at her sadly, "Imagine how you would feel is you weren't one of the people who belonged to this world. Imagine how you would feel if you were one of the people who had died in their own time and suddenly found out you'd been killed somewhere out there. Imagine finding out," her voice hitched, "that you'd never had a life."

A terrible darkness sank into the pit of Shaz's stomach.

"Marci's dead," she whispered, "isn't she?"

Alex wished that she didn't have to answer that question but she had no choice.

"I'm so sorry, Shaz."

Shaz turned her eyes downwards.

"What happened to her?" she whispered.

"I can't tell you that," Alex said quietly, "what I _can_ tell you is that Marci has a second chance now. So does Jake. They're here to live their lives, the lives they were never able to fully enjoy. If they knew, if they doubted their existence for just a second it would all fall apart." She looked at her seriously, "you can never tell them."

Shaz understood, she truly did.

"If I were them I wouldn't want to know," she agreed.

Alex nodded.

"Me… Gene… Simon, Robin and Kim," she began quietly, "we all know. If you need to talk to someone about what you've learnt today you can always talk to one of us."

Shaz nodded slowly.

"OK," she whispered. He sipped her drink then looked around. "But… what happens now?" she whispered.

"Now," Sam began, "we need to work out how to get you home."

"And how to get the money pouring back in my till," Nelson told them, "handing out free drinks to beautiful ladies isn't going to do my bank account a lot of good."

"Let's see what's brewing on the outside," Sam suggested as he walked across to the television in the corner of the room. He switched it on and L!ve TV began to play.

"I don't see how _Topless Darts_ is going to help," Alex admonished "unless you're trying to lure Gene with quality programming."

Sam ignored that and pressed a button. The picture skipped across the screen and a new image replaced it, an image that shocked Alex deeply. The inside of CID played out into the room; Evan's bearded body being dragged, unconscious from the office while Robin knelt beside Kim with a glass of water and Gene crossly swapped it for something with a higher alcohol content.

"_Honestly, Batman, yer first aid is as weedy as Kite's!"_

"_I don't think alcohol is going to help right now!"_ Robin tried to protest.

"_I disagree,"_ Kim told him, taking Gene's advice and downing a mouthful.

"_Guv,"_ Jake ran breathlessly into the room, _"Guv, there's no sign of DCI Drake. I've checked the car park, the canteen, reception, the cells…"_

Alex closed her eyes as she watched. She felt a little sick at the sight of it.

"Poor Gene," she mumbled. She knew he'd been through this once before, and last time the outcome had been far, far worse.

"Hold on…" Sam glanced from Shaz to the corner of the screen, "recognise someone?" he asked, pointing to a figure who was angrily demanding an explanation.

Shaz leaned forward, squinting at the screen until suddenly she gasped.

"That's _me_!" she cried.

"That's the _other_ you," Alex whispered.

"Oh my god, why is she so mad?" Shaz cried.

"Probably for similar reasons to you," Sam told her.

"_Shaz, I'm so worried about you,"_ Marci's voice broke Shaz's heart as her 1980s counterpart backed away from the Scary Spice lookalike and told her she had no idea who she was.

"Oh _Marci!"_ Shaz stood up and ran to the screen, "it's not _me!_ She doesn't understand!" she banged on the glass as though to get her attention, "I'm _here!"_

"They can't hear you," Sam told her but as Shaz knocked again everyone in CID seemed to stop and glance around.

"_What was that?"_ Robin asked, his eyes darting around the room.

_"Someone knocked on the window," _Jake frowned.

"_Who's knocking several floors up_?" Gene demanded, "_the tooth fairy?"_

"_Don't be stupid,"_ Robin rolled his eyes, _"…tooth fairy's far too small. You'd never hear it."_

"They _heard_ me!" Shaz cried and Sam's eyes opened wide as he turned to Nelson in alarm.

"They _did_ hear her," he said worriedly.

Nelson's smile stayed right where it was while his eyes filled with worry.

"Little glitch in time, Mon Brave" he commented as he pressed the off switch but the picture flicked back on. Swallowing anxiously he turned it off again and this time the screen stayed blank. Alex could tell from the panic on the two men's faces that this wasn't supposed to happen, but she knew less about that side of the pub door than she knew about training one of Robin's damn dogs. She took a deep breath and decided to take the focus away from the unknown.

"So, _gentlemen_," she began nervously, "how are you going to get us home? I presume we can't walk through the exit?"

"Not this time," Nelson confirmed.

"I don't have to jump from the window again do I?" Alex shuddered and Sam shook his head.

"Nah, had to seal them up," he told her pointedly, adding; "You started a trend," with a smug smirk which Alex pulled a face at.

"I'm surprised I didn't need therapy to cope with _your_ therapy," she told him and despite himself Sam smirked again. He could just imagine sparring with Alex if they'd ever worked together.

"Your _Guv_ is showing," he told her, which made her laugh and pull a face at the same time.

"Let's just get me back to him, shall we?" she said, "you're not ready for _either_ of us yet. Not enough drinks on the bar for a start."

Nelson nodded.

"Just a little tear in space," he said with a confidence that Alex couldn't tell was real or fake. "You'll be back where you belong before you know it."

"Will I remember this?" Shaz asked, "you're not going to," she shuddered "_erase my memory_ or something are you?"

Sam frowned.

"What do I look like? A time lord or something?"

"There would be no point in you forgetting, "Alex told her gently, "Kim will still be there when you get back."

Shaz felt her heart do some very funny things. How did she even _feel_ about Kim now? She's been grieving for her for more than a year and a half. She'd always felt as though things were unfinished. Now she understood why.

"So what so we have to do?" she asked quietly.

"_You_, finish your drink," Nelson told her, "never let it be said we turn a lady out into the cold before her glass is empty."

"Come on, Alex," Sam nodded, "you first."

Alex walked hesitantly towards him.

"I am going out the window, aren't ?" she cringed.

"Not this time," Sam gave her a dry smile, "besides, that seat's not been stable enough for anyone to stand on. Not since you and Gene paid the cubicle a visit."

Alex reddened and fiddled with her hair.

"_Yes, well,"_ she began crossly, "let's get on with it, shall we?"

"Walk this way," Sam told her signalling the direction of the saloon bar.

Alex took a deep breath and glanced back at Shaz and Nelson.

"Here goes nothing," she said.

She followed Sam to the door where he placed his hand on the handle and hesitated.

"Never had to do this before," he admitted.

"Oh lovely, now I'm a guinea pig," Alex sighed, "this isn't going to turn me inside out or anything, is it?"

"No," sighed Sam. He shuffled. "Close your eyes." She threw him a confused glare. "Just close your eyes, I'm not going to draw on a beard and a moustache if that's what you're worried about."

Alex rolled her eyes but did as she was told, a tiny smile on her face. The first step was getting back to Gene. Then they could sort out the rest of the mess together.

"Now what?" she asked as she heard the sound of the door swinging open.

"Walk through the door," Sam told her.

Alex frowned.

"As simple as that?"

Sam nodded, even though Alex couldn't see him.

"You can try the Dorothy technique of you like?" he suggested, "Totally pointless but at least you leave with more of a flourish."

Alex sighed and gave a half smile. Knocking the heels of her shoes together three times she gave a sarcastic;

"There's no place like home," then with a deep breath she stepped forward, out of heaven and into time and space beyond.

X

There was a breeze. That was the first thing she noticed. She could hear traffic and the air carried all the scents of being outdoors. She heard a car horn, some footsteps, an occasional voice. She knew she was no longer on the pub and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank god for that," she whispered but the moment she opened her eyes her relief began to fade. "_What_ -?!" her head spun from side to side. This wasn't Fenchurch East. This wasn't even _London_. Where _was_ she? "_I don't…"_ she began as she tried to work out where on earth she was but a second later a hand grasped her wrist and soon after a cold metalic sensation joined it.. She gasped and spun around to find an officer in a well and truly outdated uniform fixing the other end of a pair of cuffs to herself. "_What's –"_ her eyes met a pair that were slightly familiar and with immense confusion she frowned. "_Annie?"_

Annie took a literal step back as she shuddered.

"That's WPC Cartwright to you," she said curtly, "How do you know my name?"

"_I…?"_ Alex's entire face creased up in confusion as she looked around, taking in the details; the cars, the advertising boards, the dated clothes and housing. Her mouth fell open and she tried to back away but Annie gave a sharp tug on her handcuffs.

"_You,"_ she began crossly, "are under arrest for dangerous driving –"

"I'm _what?"_ Alex breathed.

"Running another vehicle off the road –"

"But I wasn't –"

"And endangering a life," Annie continued before she read Alex her rights, all the while looking at her as though she was the scum of the earth.

Alex could do little but shake and swallow. She looked around. There was no pub. No pub, no Fenchurch East, no sense, and no Gene.

"_WPC Cartwright!"_

Well, _that_ detail at the very least she had wrong. But as a thunderous face began to head in her direction she made a slight correction.

"Not _my_ Gene," she whispered. And that was a prospect she found far scarier than no Gene at all. "Oh _god_… Sam bloody Tyler," she mumbled, "what the _hell_ have you _done?"_


	6. Chapter 5: Unscheduled Broadcast

_**A/N: Sorry if updates are a little slower this week, I'm struggling with my health at present x**_

**~xXx~**

**Chapter 5**

Sam turned to Nelson with a look of alarm on his face as he said shakily,

"That didn't go as planned, did it?"

Nelson hesitated. He glanced at Shaz who seemed torn between anxiety from their plans going wrong and making pouring herself another drink her top priority. He didn't want to scare her but he was fairly sure _that_ shouldn't have happened.

"It was the maiden voyage," he began, "who can say how it's meant to be?"

"But not like _that_," Sam said a little stiffly. Nelson swallowed. Sam was right and he knew it. It should have been a fairly simple plan; send Alex out through the door to the saloon bar where the pub would recognise she was in the wrong place and send her home. But the stran shaking of the walls and a peculiar howling that sounded a little like Robin letting the canine unit out on a visit to the seaside indicated that something wasn't quite right.

"I'm certain things are just _fine_," Nelson lied, reaching out to switch on the television again. He pressed a button or two and a fuzzy static cleared to show CID, with Gene still desperate to know where Alex was and 80s Shaz having an increasingly heated discussion with Simon. The two men exchanged a glance. Alex wasn't where she belonged.

"Knew we should have tested it on the pork scratchings first," Sam commented as the picture rolled and a different image came on. He thumped the side of the set and the shot of CID came back.

"The lady cannot be far away," Nelson told him, "all we need to do is to let our minds focus on the situation and she'll be home as soon as –"

The picture jumped and rolled again, cutting Nelson off midsentence. This time before he had a chance to fix it a brief shot of Alex could be seen, her wrists cuffed and expression angry.

"_No!"_ they heard her cry, "_let me go! Get off me!"_

Her wrist was cuffed to another person whose face they couldn't see and in contrast to the bright and gaudy 90s colours she'd been wearing mere moments before she was clothed in tan-coloured suede an a dull turquoise shirt.

"I'm developing a highly uneasy feeling about this, Nelson," Sam warned him as they continued to watch.

"_Looks like we're going to have to use the good cell for this one,"_ a familiar voice said gruffly, "_and remind me to polish me toecaps. Get the right angle and her skirt becomes open for inspection._

"Forget the uneasy feeling, I think I just lost half my stomach lining from anxiety," Sam declared. He looked at Nelson. "This is bad. This is very, _very_ bad."

"

Nelson gulped. What he wouldn't give to be sightseeing around the capital city again instead.

~xXx~

"I think you should calm down," Robin regretted the words as soon as they'd escaped.

_"Calm?"_ a sea of Gene spittle flooded in his direction. "I'm _perfectly_ calm!" Gene spun around, arms flapping like a crazy man to indicate others in turn, "You think _I'm_ the crazy one, look at this band of idiots – there's beardy still deep asleep and dreaming about the day beards rule the earth, your half-bird, half robot sidekick finishing off me best bottle and _Blast From The Past_ snivelling about her missing fruit-loop!"

"Erm, _excuse_ me Guv?" Shaz's angry voice began, "_Snivelling_? Can you _see_ Niagara Falls on my face?"

Gene looked around, slightly outraged.

"Didn't remember that the other Granger was this lippy," he commented, his forehead wrinkled as a half frown, half glare came into being. Before he could say anything more or Shaz could continue her unhappy reaction there was a click and a very loud burst of static that made everyone jump out of their skin.

"For god's sake," Simon quickly flicked the TV back off, "who thinks this is a good time to be tuning in to _Neighbours?_" but after a few seconds of silence the screen came back to life, first showing a very brief snatch of what appeared to be a highy dated Cortina, then switching to the inside of a very familiar pub. Simon's stomach sank to his knees. "Uhh…" he swallowed. His eyes turning to Gene who looked almost frozen in shock. To his horror Jake and Marci chose that moment to return from taking Evan to the medical room. Simon had a feeling that whatever was about to unfold wasn't for their eyes. "Alright," he said exuberantly, running towards them and moving his hands in a sweeping motion to herd them back out the door, "let's go and find DCI Drake."

"We've looked everywhere –" Marci protested but Simon grasped her shoulder and physically turned her astound.

"Have you tried the canteen?" he asked, "it's no-sprout day, after all…"

Gene looked up to the heavens and breathed a sigh of relief.

"The one day I needed you to have yer brain engaged," he mumbled gratefully then turned how attention to the screen. "Oh flipping heck, what _is_ this? Me video message on _This Is Your Life?" _he steeped a little closer to the screen and peered at it just as Nelson and Sam seemed to step closer too. All three men jumped back a little in surprise and Sam clutched his head in a manner that Gene hadn't seen since his early days in the world.

"What's going on?" he demanded.

"I was going to ask _you_ the same bleeding thing," Gene cried, "I don't remember subscribing to the _Railway Arms Community Channel!"_

Nelson gave a half fake, half nervous laugh.

"And very happy I am to see you _too_, Mon Brave," he said.

"Enough with the pageant winning smiles, Nelson," Gene narrowed his eyes, "I want me missus back," he saw Sam clutch his head extra tightly, "I'm guessing this change to the published programming has something to do with it."

"Yeah," Sam began fretfully "Alex has… _passed through."_

Gene could feel his anxiety rising.

"So could you please inform me when she's likely to be _passing back_ in this direction?" he demanded, watching Nelson's smile becoming more strained with each word.

"There's been a hitch, mon brave," he explained. Gene stared at him, swallowing angrily.

"What _sort_ of a hitch, Nelson? Is it the sort that leads to me stringing you up fron the ceiling fan by yer _I Love London_ t-shirt?!"

Nelson flinched.

"It's possible," he said.

Gene linked his fingers and cracked his knuckles.

"Think you'd better explain to me exactly why," he said, "and whether it has anything to do with that brief _road_trip down memory lane."

Sam seemed to cringe.

"Did you see something… familiar, Gene?" he asked.

"Something as familiar as the shape of Bolly's arse," Gene cried, "so tell me where me better half is and why my Manchunian wheels decided to pay me TV a visit before I personally cull several members of CID so I can come round there to deliver them and deliver a couple of black eyes at the same_ time!"_

Nelson drew back.

"At least you know her love is true," he said hopefully.

"It's not valentines bollocks for another three and a half months, Nelson, give me a bloody _explanation!"_

"Actually I could do with one too," Sam said a little nervously, turning to Nelson who seemed reluctant to give one. Eventually he closed his eyes.

"She wanted to get back to you very much," he began tactfully.

"Well? She's got eyes, hormones and a brain, course she does. What does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm telling you, Mon Brave, she wanted to get back to you. But perhaps…" he cringed, "perhaps when she was thinking of returning to you… she took a _wrong_ turning."

"In me Cortina?"

Sam's mouth dropped open.

"_Shit,"_ he declared as he began to work out what nelson was hinting at, "Please, Nelson, tell me this isn't what I think it is."

"I take it this isn't an all-expenses paid holiday to Spain?" Gene asked through gritted teeth No one responded. "Or is it an all-expenses paid journey to me finer moments?"

Nelson looked awkward.

"The second option is closer to the truth," he said.

"You _have_ to be joking."

"Time's broken, Gene," Sam said reluctantly, "instead of going back to you in the present she's…" he looked at Nelson for confirmation, "entered another point in your life. Maybe one that time was broken, too."

Gene's expression became twisted swath nerves.

"I take it yer not talking about the time Ray sat on me carriage clock."

Robin frowned with concern.

"Why did you even _have_ a carriage clock?!" he cried and Gene's angry glare turned in his direction.

"Always at the root of the matter, Chief Inspector Thomas!" he spat, "your enquiries about why I'd happened to acquire a slightly unexpected timepiece are really going to bring Alex back, aren't they?"

"Is she alright?" Kim asked anxiously

"Looking at the fact she's about to meet me in me Cortina years I would say no," Gene barked, "or, more likely, _she'll_ be fine but I'm gonna get it in the neck for me behaviour twenty-odd years ago!"

"We'll find her," Nelson promised although he had no idea how.

Gene peered at the screen and frowned.

"You seem to be missing yer patrons," he pointed out.

"Yeah… brewery's not going to be very happy with this week's takings, " Sam commented and Gene glowered.

"Since I've already got _Granger the First_ renting space in me office does this mean we're about to take a trip through the Fenchurch East hall of shame?"

Nelson grinned sheepishly.

"If you could perhaps send them home…" he began and Gene reached for the remote control in frustration.

"Send Bolly back and we'll talk," he said, shutting off the telly and turning to Robin and Kim.

"_Gene!"_ cried Robin.

"I'd have enough of that programme, too much lip-flapping and not enough action," he stated.

"So how the hell are we supposed to put this right?" Kim asked, memories of the last 'chucking out' time still strong in her mind.

Gene wasn't sure but he knew one thing for certain.

"All I want is for Bolly not to bar me from me own bed for whatever I'm about to do," he mumbled.


	7. Chapter 6: Greatest Moments

**Chapter 6**

Alex choked as a haze of smoke settled over the room. Although still a few years away from the smoking ban it was hardly commonplace to be around so much smoke indoors any more. She wasn't used to it, especially not since her Gene had given up smoking in preparation for his almighty protest. He'd already started compiling a list of places to go and smoke on the day the ban came into place.

She chewed nervously on her lip as the door of the room opened and a familiar face entered. She felt her hopes and spirits lift a little as she scrambled to her feet

"_Chris,"_ she breathed, looking at the younger face of the man that she'd worked with for three years but her sense of familiarity was not echoed in the man. He stood still, staring at her with a frown.

"It's not right to get familiar in an interview," he said stiffly, somewhat taken aback by her, "how do you know my name?"

"She's psychic this one, Chris," a somewhat more heavy-set and nicotine-stained Gene blustered into the room, his coat sweeping along behind him. Alex swallowed as she looked at him, torn between the part of her that made her heart skip a beat at the sight of him, such as he was, and the part of her that remembered the descriptions of 1970s Gene in Sam Tyler's files that made her want to crawl under the table and die there.

"This isn't my Gene," she said quietly as a reminder to herself and Gene pulled a disgruntled face at her.

"Play yer cards right and we could take a look at revising that situation," he said as he looked her up and down. She was a looker, he'd give her that. He'd give her something _else_ if he had the chance, too. Even as he contemplated it he gave an internal sigh. Who was he kidding? Despite his wandering eye he'd never cheated on his wife and he wasn't likely to start now.

"What year is this?"

It had been so long since Alex felt that terrible sensation of being adrift in time. She hadn't felt that way for so many years. Actually no, that wasn't quite true – she'd felt the same way when she'd been back in the real world, albeit from a different angle. But even so she felt out of practice at surviving in an alien time.

The look Gene gave her made her feel infinitely worse.

"Blimey, another time traveller," he snorted as he plonked his backside heavily into a hard, uncomfortable chair and spread his legs wide, leaning back while he eyed her suspiciously, "better tell Tyler one of his fellow space travellers has turned up."

"_Tyler,"_ Alex swallowed. So Sam was already there? Well that narrowed down the timescale at least. She felt her eyes drawn to his open legs then caught herself and forced herself to look away. Unfortunately he'd already spotted where her eyes had been as his smug smirk indicated.

"Course, if you're looking for slightly more _earthly_ delights..." he raised his eyebrows and Chris gave a slightly smutty laugh. Alex rolled her eyes with as much severity as she could muster given the strange circumstances. She'd forgotten how far back in the dark ages she'd found everyone upon her arrival in 1981 – compared to _that_ she'd arrived in the prehistoric era.

"I want to speak to Sam Tyler," she leaned forward and pleaded, "he'll know what to do."

Gene glanced between his legs.

"I doubt it, love," he said, "too much going on up here-" he tapped the side of his head, "and not enough going on down there," he knocked his knees together and popped a cigarette in his mouth. Alex ignored his sexist innuendo and tried to remind herself that this wasn't the same Gene that she knew; that this was a man not yet changed by people such as herself and Sam. At least she knew that if Sam was there already then the conversion would soon begin. For now though she was stuck with the dinosaur version of Gene, and a very young and wet-behind-the-ears Chris.

"Listen," she began forcefully, "I just need five minutes with Sam."

"You'll be lucky to get him past the first thirty seconds," Gene told her as he lit up and Alex narrowed her eyes at him through the sudden plume of smoke.

"Does _everything_ have to be an innuendo to you?" she cried, then threw her arms up in the air, "look who I'm talking to, of _course_ it does! Our whole _relationship_ is founded on it."

Gene blinked and leaned back.

"Blimey, they said this one had come off the road, looks like she's off the rails an' all!"

"Looks like you're on a promise there, Guv, eh?" Chris sniggered, trying hard to play ball with the big boys but sounding suspiciously like a schoolboy.

"You kiss Shaz with that mouth, do you?" Alex asked crossly and Chris looked somewhat bemused.

"I…" he flinched, not exactly wanting to admit that he rarely kissed anyone, with that mouth or any other phantom mouth, "I think that's private," he said, trying not to turn the colour of a beetroot.

"As much as I'm enjoying this lengthy game of verbal cat and mouse with a bird who's posher than the girls down that club that'll let you pluck their feathers for a fiver after hours," Gene began, folding his arms, "I've got more important people to bang to rights than the trollop who sent me new DI the wrong way round the one way system."

"I thought I was supposed to have run someone _off_ the road," Alex cried crossly, air quoting along the way.

"I was talking metabolically," Gene told her through gritted teeth.

"_Metaphorically,"_ Alex corrected, rolling her eyes and running a hand through her hair. It was still short, even shorter than her Posh Spice cut and somewhat thinned out too. She hesitated as she stared at Gene. "Wait a minute, your DI?" she retreated, "You're accusing me of causing Sam Tyler's accident?" she threw her hands in the air. "Oh I should have known – Sam bloody Tyler has a lot to answer for."

"Oi, Missus woman," Gene scowled, "Anyone's going to give me DI the middle name of 'bloody', it's going to be me."

"Guv," the door opened and a rather stern looking woman in uniform poked her head in, "new information. Been barking up the wrong tree, should have been looking for someone with broader shoulders." She paused as Gene looked a bit bewildered, "should have been looking for a man."

Gene's eyes turned back to Alex and settled on her cleavage. There was no mistaking that. Alex was not their suspect.

"Bugger," he huffed, "Was enjoying her backchat an' all."

Alex wrinkled up her nose as he breathed more smoke in her direction.

"Wait the best part of a decade and you never know your luck," she snapped, "you might just get some more." She frowned as Gene and Chris got to their feet and started pulling her out of her chair, "_Now_ what? What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, trying to decide whether to give her future fiancé a slap.

"Escorting you from me humble abode," Gene told her as they brought her to the door, "you're free to go and enjoy the scenery. Once you've got yer bag of posh knickers back from plod, anyway."

"He means your belongings," Chris told her.

"I could work that much out, thank you," Alex hissed crossly as they marched her down the corridor. Her heart was pounding, everything was happening so quickly and once she was out of the station she'd be all on her own again, abandoned in time with nowhere to go. But quite suddenly another familiar face came into view walking down the corridor towards them and she felt her head spin with the possibility that all was not lost, There was the one person who just might know enough to get her back to safety. The one person who, she had to remind herself, was somewhat responsible for her predicament.

"_Sam!" _she gasped, pulling herself from the grasp of _Prototype Gene_ and hurtling towards him. She took a deep breath as she reached him and looked at him frantically. "Sam… Sam, it's me."

Sam's blank face was the last thing she needed.

"It might help if you told me who 'me' is," he said, pushing her back a little.

While Alex already knew from his reaction that she'd managed to arrive before he'd returned to the real world her mouth wouldn't stop running away with her.

"It's me, Alex," she panted, aware that Annie was giving her the evil eye from down the corridor, "You've got to help me."

"Sleeping it off in a cell is the best way to help you right now," Sam said, backing away warily.

"I have to get home," she hissed, "I have to get back to my own time."

Well that did it.

Sam's expression froze. Then it started to crumble. In a moment he'd gone from wary and sarcastic to frantic and fraught. The tables turning instantaneously, he gripped her by the shoulder s and started to shake her.

"You _know_ me?" he hissed, "You know me from out there? You're my head trying to help me?"

"What?" Alex frowned, pulling away, "_No!"_

"You _have_ to help me," Sam hissed, "I need to know how to get home. I'm fighting out there –"

A dreadful sinking feeling settled in Alex's chest.

"Oh _god,"_ she began.

"Tell them I'm fighting," Sam urged her, "Tell them not to switch off those machines because I'm coming home."

"Oh god, what have I _done?"_ Alex whimpered as Sam grasped her again.

"Do you have a message?" he demanded, "what do I have to do to get home?"

"The only place you're going to be going is the medical room if you don't stop shaking me," Alex threatened, pushing Sam away again but he was so overwrought that he couldn't stop.

"You have to give me some hope!" he begged and this time as he grasped for her sleeve she slapped his hand away.

"_Hope?"_ she cried, "what do you want me to say? You'll wake up and then do a spot of dry-diving to get back here and live out your days in the strange symbiotic relationship of antagonism that you and Gene found yourselves in?"

"Blimey, symbiotic," Gene scratched his head, "is that anything like a threesome?"

"I'm _going_ to get home," Sam hissed, grabbing for her one last time but this time Chris realised that his frantic actions were inappropriate and pushed him back.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled to Alex, "I think he had a liquid lunch."

"You're confusing me with everyone's favourite pre-Barney dinosaur," Sam told him, eying Gene crossly and this time Gene stepped in.

"Tyler, go and lay down in the nurses' room until yer blood's pumped the alcohol out that weedy constitution."

"I am _not_ drunk," Sam said through gritted teeth but as he moved forward Gene assumed he was about to grasp for Alex's sleeve again and quickly lashed out to deliver a punch. Alex gasped and drew back as a small fight began, with Sam narrowly avoiding Gene's flying fist and taking a shot back instead.

"Bloody hell, "Chris muttered, stepping in to defend his Guv but all he managed to do as he pushed Sam was to send the fist in Alex's direction instead. As the blow reached her forehead it knocked her right back against the wall. Her head made contact with the rough bricks and the next thing she knew she felt incredibly faint and started sliding to the floor. The room began spinning just before her eyes closed and she could hear voices around her.

"_Nice one, Chris. Let's see you explain this in the incident book."_

"_That sounds like the worst piece o' bedtime reading ever, Sammy Boy."_

"_What were you punching me for anyway?"_

"_You were manhandling a lady! If anyone's going to do that it's gonna be me!"_

_"She's out cold, guv. What do we do?"_

"_WPC Cartwright, small job for you over here. Got a floppy one for you. See if we can change that later on though."_

"_Wa-hay!"_

"_Come on, wake up…"_

"_Wake up, love…"_

"_Alex… oi, Alex."_

A hand slapped her cheek just hard enough to make her eyes open sharply and to force her to draw in her breath. The overpowering scent of urine was the first thing she noticed as her mouth dropped open and her eyes scanned the dingy, grey walls.

"What -?!" she whispered. She wasn't in a corridor now.

"Come on, love, wake up," a familiar face addressed her, "there'll be time for sleeping it off later. Which is more than that poor tramp's gonna be doing tonight."

The moustached face of Ray with natural, straight hair came as somewhat of a shock to her.

"Ray?" she murmured, her head still swimming, "What's going on? Where am I?"

"Not the public loos, that's for sure," Ray told her, yanking her to her feet and pulling her out of the cell where she hobbled along unsteadily.

"What's happening?" she demanded, "where are you taking me?"

"Need to ask you a few questions," Ray told her.

"What about _this_ time?" she rolled her eyes crossly.

"About your fancy for giving golden showers to the homeless of Greater Manchester," Ray told her and not for the first time that day her heart stopped and her stomach lurched.

"_What?"_ she whispered. Why did that sound so familiar? As she began to look downward she realised why she was having such difficulty walking. She wasn't sure the height of the heels she was wearing was legal without scaffolding for a start. Add to that the torn fishnets and the short, sparkly skirt and she certainly wasn't dressed for a polite evening meal. "Oh _no,"_ she whispered as her eyes rose to see a group of rowdy women being herded into various cells and interview rooms.

_"One at a time ladies, please!"_ a flustered Chris declared as one rather frisky member of the gathering copped a feel.

"_This one's got a real peach!"_ she declared as some of the other women laughed raucously.

One of the women seemed to stand out by her silence.

"What's yer name, love?"

The Gene who caught her attention looked a little more familiar to Alex this time around, slightly thinner, a little older, but the thing she couldn't stop staring at was the curly haired woman that gene was speaking to. Her arms were folded in the cold room, her face dark and sad, out of place amongst a rowdy crowd.

"_Marie,"_ she whispered, "_Marie Shoebury."_

"Oh dear god, _no,"_ Alex closed her eyes and swallowed. What was she doing, taking a trip through time to revisit Gene's greatest moments?

Simon's conception was probably towards the top of her list of things she really didn't want to see. Unfortunately she wasn't sure she was going to get much of a say in the matter.


	8. Chapter 7: Old Faces

**Chapter 7**

Marci's excited scream made Simon jump so severely that he hit his head on the door. He spun around to see her rushing down the corridor screaming;

"_Oh my god, oh my god, it's you!"_

For a split second Simon started to panic. After what had just occurred she could have seen literally _anyone_. But when the words, _"I've got all your albums and Common People is one of my all-time favourite songs!" _followed he started to develop more of an idea

"_Shit,"_ he breathed as he began to walk at speed toward them, trying not to feel sick at the sight of the purple velvet suit. He swallowed as he felt torn between screaming in confusion and smiling with the familiarity of the face he found himself confronting. _"Malcolm."_

Malcolm looked at Simon, then back at Marci and scrambled back a little.

"She wants an _autograph!" _he cried in alarm as she thrust a pen and an old receipt in his direction.

"Just make it out to Marci," Marci told him, "put, _To Marci, lots of love, Jarvis_. Or, _wait!"_ she fished in her pocket for another scrap of paper, "can you make one out to Jake? He's my best friend, he'll _die!"_

"That's half the problem," Simon muttered as he slid an arm around Malcolm's shoulders and led him a step or two away.

"What the hell's going on?" Malcolm cried, "I was just finishing my pint and then it all went black and the next thing I knew I was signing autographs and being chased down corridors by rabid fans!" he pushed his clear-glass spectacles back up his nose and looked at Simon as though he had all the answers.

"I'm sorry," Simon hissed, "we're not sure what's happened. I'll take you to the guv and we'll –"

But Simon was cut off buy an ear-splitting shriek from down the corridor. Eyes widening in worry, he shot off in the direction of the noise and turned a corner to find two desperate individuals fighting it out for control of the first aid box.

"It's _mine!"_ a woman with long, brown hair yelled, giving it an almighty tug. At the other side of it, Jake pulled it in his own direction with an angry scowl.

"_I'm_ the designated first aider on this floor!" he cried.

"I'll designate a tourniquet round your mouth if you don't give me that box," the woman yelled, giving the kit an extra firm heave.

The instant that Simon realised who Jake was scrapping with his hand struck his forehead with an audible slap and he groaned so hard that he thought the walls were going to shake.

"Susannah," he muttered under his breath as Jake almost succeeded in swiping the kit from her.

"_Get your sticky fingers off my first aid kit!"_ she cried as Jake grasped the box more firmly and tugged it again.

"Bring it on, bitch!" he hissed through gritted teeth and Simon flailed on horror.

"_DS Dawson!"_ he cried, exerting the kind of authority that he usually preferred not to have to use, "_never_ speak to another member of staff like that!" he eyed Susannah warily, "especially not one who's fairly demented and willing to use a tourniquet for illegal purposes."

Jake looked at Simon then back at Susannah. Finally he scowled and let go of the box. She fell backwards with the first aid kit still in her hands and crashed to the ground, covered in plasters and bandages. Rolling his eyes, Simon helped her to her feet and glared at Jake momentarily.

"Maybe you should go home," he said. Jake looked confused.

"Why?"

"Your temper is having an airing."

"Only because someone was trying to take over my role!"

"You should at least take a break," Simon insisted. He swallowed nervously, eyes darting around in case any other dead ex-employees should make an appearance. He desperately needed to talk to Gene, and he needed to talk to him without the prying eyes of those who didn't know. Looking from the cross Jake to the over-excited Marci who was surreptitiously sniffling Malcolm's suit, he made a snap decision. "Right, I'm taking you both to the canteen," he said, "you could both do with a hot coffee and a break."

"Actually, I thought I would help Mister Cocker find his way around the station," Marci said with a sly smile, rocking on her heels, "would you like a tour, Jarvis?"

Malcolm gulped.

"Uhhh…" his voice trembled but Simon swooped in and linked an arm through Marci's on one side and Jake's on the other.

"Come on, I'm buying," he said with false enthusiasm. He glanced back at Malcolm and Susannah as he marched the two detectives away. _"Stay there and don't do anything," _he told them through gritted teeth.

Susannah and Malcolm exchanged a confused glance as Simon left the room.

"What does he think we're going to do?" he cried, "invade Poland?"

~xXx~

"So is anyone going to help me look for him?" Shaz looked around the room, scarcely believing how uncooperative they were being. It wasn't like this in _her_ day. No, that wasn't true, it _was_ like that. But at least back then Alex was usually on her side and battling to get things done. Where was she even? She gave an angry shrug as the confused faces looked at her. "I need some help. I have to find him."

"Chris is big enough and ugly enough to look after himself," Gene told Shaz but she wasn't having it.

"Guv," she began warningly, "I love Chris but his sense of direction and his common sense make cabinet ministers look like they should join Mensa."

Gene hated to admit that she had a point.

"Knowing your not-so-better half he's probably out there with Ray looking for the nearest off-licence," he told her and Shaz rolled her eyes.

"That's a great way to set my mind at ease," she muttered, not even wanting to complicate the trouble he might be getting into with Ray.

"Gene!" an anxious Simon raced into the room at speed, his feet stepping on one another along the way. He stumbled, crashing headlong into a desk and almost into Robin before righting himself and panting heavily, "Gene, we've got some visitors."

"This is not a good day for 'ealth and safety to visit the canteen and stick a thermometer in 'er sprouts," Gene growled but Simon shook his head.

"No," he said, "looks like it's been chucking out time at the pub."

Gene closed his eyes as his conversation with Nelson came back to him.

"Bollocks," he mumbled.

"Marci's already been trying to get 'Jarvis Cocker' to sign everything in a hundred mile radius that's made out of paper and Susannah and Jake were fighting so strongly over a first aid kit that if they ever run into each other again at least one of them will end up _needing_ first aid."

"Could do with Kite's input," Gene mumbled, "wonder how she'd do at tying a tourniquet round someone's gob," he glanced at Shaz who scowled but was out of comebacks this time.

"I don't think you realise quite how serious this is!" Simon flapped, "Gene, they could be _anywhere_! _All_ of them!"

"So we borrow a couple of leads from Batman, round 'em up and take them for last orders," said Gene.

"We've been lucky so far," Simon hissed, "Marci and Jake never knew Susannah and Malcolm, but…" he stopped and swallowed, "Eddie…" he bowed his head a little with sadness, "Eddie could be out there somewhere, Gene. What if they see him? What if _Marci_ sees him?"

Gene swallowed very hard and paled visibly.

"Thought hadn't entered me thinkpan," he mumbled.

"No. Didn't think so," said Simon.

"Neither did the thought of Kim and Shaz meeting," Robin reminded them.

"Who's Kim?" asked Shaz and Kim gave her a slightly sad wave.

"I am," she said quietly.

Shaz stared at her for a moment.

"I… don't know if we've met?" she asked.

Kim's lips twitched into a distant smile.

"No," she said, "we didn't." she shrugged, "well, we _did,_ briefly. Last time the pub closed its doors." It felt weird to Kim to see a different Shaz – or any Shaz at all, to be fair. The whole day was the strangest, most surreal thing she'd ever lived through, and she'd lived through _Beard Relief._

A loud honking noise interrupted her thoughts and instantaneously both Kim and Gene sprang to attention.

_"My car!"_ they cried in unison, then stopped and stared at each other, Gene's stare turning slowly into a glower. The Fiat wasn't his car any longer. Nonetheless he joined Kim in racing to the window, with Simon, Robin and a bewildered Shaz not far behind. Out in the car park two figures were pointing and laughing at the yellow vehicle as the lights flashed and alarm sounded.

"_Oil!"_ Gene banged on the window, even though they couldn't hear. As he opened it he caught the words, _"car coloured like a streak of piss"_ and leaned out a long way. "That was me pride and joy!" he yelled and a shocked Ray and Chris turned to see their Guv shaking his fist in their direction.

"Whoops," Ray muttered as Chris offered a;

_"Sorry Guv… didn't really look like your kind of wheels, that's all."_

"It isn't his!" Kim cried, "it's _mine!"_ she glanced at Gene, "Well it is _now,_ anyway."

"Bloody bird picked the lemon on wheels," Ray commented, "Should have guessed."

"Who the hell are you calling a bloody _bird?"_ Kim rolled up her sleeves and began to stomp away from the window.

"Oh god, they're for it now," Robin cringed as he and Simon turned to follow her and Gene yelled out of the window,

"I'll give you pair of meatheads one word of advice," then paused for dramatic effect, _"Run."_

Chris and Ray exchanged a glance, laughing half-mockingly and half confused. They thought Gene had to be joking until they saw a little bundle of fury wrapped in ink and metal making her way out of the doors and moving across to them at speed.

"Right," Kim began angrily, pushing her sleeves a little further up her arms, "let's hear some more comments about my car, shall we?" she backed them right up against the wall and put her hands on her hips, "the car your _Guv_ picked out long before I inherited the bastard."

"_Oi!"_ A very angry Gene emerged from the station just behind Robin and Simon, "you do _not_ speak ill of my classic car!"

"Oh bollocks, that thing will _never_ be a classic!"

"If you're unhappy with yer wheels then I'd be _more_ than happy to take it back off yer hands."

"Ohh, you don't miss a trick!"

"Guv," Ray interrupted, "can you or…" he eyed Kim warily, "or your tetchy secretary…"

"I'm a detective chief inspector," Kim hissed through gritted teeth.

"_Alright,"_ Ray backed away, "Keep your hair on. What there _is_ of it." He watched as Kim involuntarily ran her fingers through her spikes. "Guv," he began again, "can you or... little _spikey_ guv…" Simon snickered while Robin bit down on his lip to stop himself from laughing, "tell us how to get back to our bloody boozer?"

"We were in the middle of a darts tournament," Chris said miserably, "Lights went out mid-throw –"

"And I woke up in the bloody car park with a dart sticking out my bum," Ray rubbed his backside crossly.

"Is that the _only_ thing he's had in his bum?" Simon muttered under his breath and this time it was Kim's turn to attempt to hold back laughter.

"Thank you for displaying yer sense of maturity at all times," Gene barked at the collection of fools and idiots around him.

He closed his eyes and sighed a _very_ deep sigh. While seeing old faces wasn't exactly unpleasant he couldn't say the same for the circumstances. He needed to get them back in the bar, drinks in hand, before more of the world could crumble.

Or – more to the point - before his car was insulted one more time.

_**~xXx~**_

_**A/N: Thanks so much for reading and for all your lovely reviews. I'm so sorry that I've been quiet lately, I'm struggling with some health issues. Thank you for bearing with me x**_


	9. Chapter 8: Third Drain

**Chapter 8**

A cross Alex sat in the dingy interview room, shivering. Her shoulders were bare and the gaudy evening outfit she wore offered little warmth in the stony room. She watched Ray adjust his jacket as he planted himself opposite while a young woman slipped into the room and took up a spot beside him. Alex felt fairly sure that the woman was Annie but she'd changed somewhat from the last time she'd seen her, her hair was longer and a bit darker as well as being out of uniform.

"Interview beginning at one in the morning," Ray began, "Seventh of June, seventy seven. DS Carling and DC Cartwright present."

"Seventh of June?" Alex shivered, "why is it so bloody cold?"

"Because you're in the middle of Manchester dressed like a prozzie not basking in a bikini in the middle of the Med," Ray pointed out.

Alex closed her eyes and leaned a little over the table.

"Silly me," she mumbled as Ray stretched out his legs.

"Come on, love, we'll get this over as quick as we can and get you into a nice toasty cell to sleep it off," he told her which earned him a glare.

"Don't rise to it," she told herself, "don't take the bait. Just keep reminding yourself that he'll soon be walking around with something resembling a poodle on his head."

"Hey, you accusing me of…" Ray began, a frown on his face as he struggled to think of the term, "of having relations with dogs and that?"

"Bestiality," Annie volunteered awkwardly.

"No, I'm not," Alex sighed, "that would involve poodles down the other end."

"Can you tell us in your own words what happened tonight?" Annie prompted, just wanting to get on with the interview.

"Well, I _could_ if I had any _idea_," Alex sighed and Ray smirked.

"How many have you had?" he asked.

"_None!"_

"If you've lost your memory –"

"The last thing I had to drink was a nice cup of coffee at breakfast this morning back in my _own_ world and my _own_ time before the universe exploded!" Alex growled, her voice becoming louder with every word.

"Sounds like it was your _bladder_ that exploded," Ray told her and she gave a yell of frustration.

"_I did not piss on anyone!"_ she cried, "no tramps, _no_ one!"

"Look, love, it's happened to the best of us," Ray leaned forward as though to win her trust, "had a few too many, the twinges start, lavvy's a bit far away, need to find somewhere to let the _overflow_ take care of things."

Alex could feel her face burning up as she slid lower and lower in her chair. Spending the best part of 2 decades with Gene should have prepared her for this sort of conversation. Apparently she'd found her limit.

"This would be a _really_ good time to wake up back in the pub," she muttered under her breath but Ray wasn't finished.

"The difference is, _I_ pick better places to relieve myself. Side of the road. Dark alley. Not the third drain under the arch where poor Pete's tucked up under his newspaper for the night!"

"_I did not piss on anyone!"_ Alex growled again, "how many times? Breathalyse me! You'll see I haven't been drinking!"

"Sober pissing is even worse –"

"_I did not piss on a tramp!" _Alex stood up and thumped her fists on the table which shocked Ray somewhat. He hesitated and sat back a little, hardly expecting the woman in the short skirt to have such a feisty streak. In the shocked silence, Alex heard echoes of Gene's voice through the wall from the next interview room. So much for being sound proof.

"_What did that unsuspecting tramp do to deserve being turned into a public toilet for you and yer girlfriends?"_

_"I'm up for one night! The wedding's not until the weekend. I didn't even want to go but you know what families are like."_

_"No, love, I don't. don't have much of one meself. Certainly not one that pisses on the homeless."_

"Oh _god_, Gene," Alex groaned as she sank back into her seat and put her hands to her forehead. This went above and beyond.

"I'll have to ask you to keep calm," Annie began in quiet, measured tones, "otherwise we will have to cuff you for our safety and yours."

"I'd be perfectly calm if _he_ would stop accusing me of losing _bladder_ control!" Alex snapped crossly, but before Annie could carry out the threat of cuffs the door opened and an officer stepped in.

"List of bridal party members, straight from the bride-to-be," he said and ducked back out. Annie took and studied the list she glanced at the information she had already been given by Alex and then back at the list, then handed it to Ray with a nudge. He scanned the names and frowned.

"And where are _you_ on this list then?" he asked before waving it under her nose. She was barely able to catch a glimpse of it but didn't really need to.

"_I'm not,"_ she said through gritted teeth, "because I'm not part of the bridal party. I have never met any of those women before in my life, neither was I pissing on tramps solo, before you ask."

Ray hesitated, uncertain what to do next but before he could decide there was a knock and the door opened.

"Sorry," the officer from before returned looking nervous, "the guv says there's been a mistake."

"Oh _does_ he now?" Alex threw up her hands in the air, "What kind of mistake? Let me guess… could it be that you've put two sugars in my coffee instead of one? Or perhaps given me the wrong chair? Or," she began, increasingly angry, "could it be that you've picked up the wrong woman who, in fact, has never pissed on a tramp in her life?"

The officer looked somewhat terrified.

"Erm, the last one," he said sheepishly and Alex rolled her eyes, huffing dramatically as she folded her arms.

"You _do_ surprise me," she said. Her levels of sarcasm were reaching unchartered territory but after everything she'd been through she though that she deserved it. She'd done enough complicated hurtling through time in her own life, the last thing she needed was to visit Gene's past as well. What the hell was she even _doing_ there?

Ray examined a note that the officer waved around, looking a little lost.

"Bugger," he said.

"So can I go now?" Alex folded her arms and raised her eyebrows and, pushing himself away from the table. Ray nodded reluctantly.

"Come on, clipclop, we'll get your personal belongings back."

"_Clip clop?"_ cried Alex.

"Wear a pair of heels like that and what d'you expect?" Ray asked innocently to Annie's chagrin.

"And also we have dinosaurs working in this station," she said which actually made Alex give a flicker of a smile.

"Yes," she said quietly, "you do don't you?" she got to her feet and gave Annie a more sincere smile. "I think you'll miss them when they've gone through."

"I think it'll take an earthquake to move them on," Annie told her.

Alex swallowed as she thought about how much more precarious the world was than anyone had really realised. The events of the day had proven that. With a sigh she unsteadily followed Ray from the interview room. She was finding it harder to keep on walking in a straight line. At first she thought it was the impossible altitude of her heels but as she walked she found her head spinning just a tad, enough to throw her off. She felt her hand rising to her forehead and swayed a little.

"You might not have been relieving yourself on the great unwashed but you've had a skinful," Ray laughed and Alex shook her head.

"I haven't," she snapped crossly, "but after this, believe me, I'm going to _need_ a drink."

She straightened herself up as the dizzy spell seemed to clear and followed Ray toward the desk, ready to be released. With a jolt of her heart she saw something that she truly had never wanted to see; Gene already standing there at the desk, the curly haired lady from before in tears by his side.

"_It's alright for you,"_ she wept angrily as she signed some papers_, "it'll be home for a nightcap and off to a warm bed for the night. What about me? I've got nowhere to go."_

_"Can't have locked yer whole family in the cells, love," _Gene said doubtfully.

"All the ones who are still in Manchester, you have," the woman sniffed, a tear rolling down her cheek and falling on the desk, _"how could they do this? I mean, it's disgusting…"_

"_You chose to spend yer evening in their company."_

"_Well it will be the last time,"_ she sniffed, _"that's it. As far as I'm concerned I've got no family up here. Not any more."_

Gene shuffled. Alex recognised that look on his face. It wasn't the look she was expecting though, nor the look she'd feared. She had expected the _this one's a bit of alright_ look. Instead she saw the _I'm thinking about doing a good deed but don't want anyone to know_ look.

"Listen," he began, "me couch… it's not lap o' luxury but it's better than where poor _Pissed-on-Pete_ is gonna be sleeping tonight." He glanced around before addressing the woman behind the desk. "Going to escort this one to a warm bed overnight. Can't see her sleeping rough. Never know who's going to take a leak in her direction…"

Alex felt a strange sensation inside as she watched Gene place a hand on the woman's shoulder and push her gently towards the door. It wasn't a sly hand, it wasn't a grab or a grope, it was a gentle push, a gesture of security for a woman who felt extremely anxious. Alex licked her lips as she watched them, then her eyes closed momentarily.

"You really never intended it to happen," she whispered, "did you Gene?"

Ray gave her a funny look then spotted a nearby Chris.

"This one thinks I'm the Guv!" he smirked and Alex rolled her eyes.

"Just you wait until nineteen eighty one, Ray Carling…" she began, wagging her finger in his direction but a stabbing pain in the side of her head made her freeze up for a second. Her hand rose to her temple and she closed her eyes from a sudden spell of dizziness.

"You alright, love?"

Alex swallowed. The air felt as though it was rushing against her face, like the world was moving.

"I don't know," she whispered. She pressed her palm flat to the wall to steady herself and forced her eyes open but everything looked hazy, like she had a film over her pupils. She squinted as she tried to make sense of her sight but things were morphing and changing, people fading out and others fading in. "Oh my god," she whispered as she pressed her palm to her head.

"Do you need to sit down?"

She didn't even recognise the voice this time and just shook her head.

"No, I'll be fine," she whispered but as she squinted a little harder Mrs Shoebury was back at the desk, crying. "_What…?"_ there was a detective beside her but it wasn't Gene. The man faded in and out, morphing back and forth between being Gene and being a stranger until the stranger seemed to stick around for a while, pushing Simon's mother towards the door.

"_I'm going to help this lady find somewhere safe to stay the night," _she heard him say but his voice was distorted; tinny, echoey. She tried hard to focus as he guided her to the door but he started fading in and out again and the pain in her head grew ever harder to bear until, as his colleagues bade him farewell for the night, she could stand the pain no longer and collapsed, succumbing to a flood of darkness in her mind.

By the time she awoke, time had moved on. As she slowly opened her eyes and saw the vague shape of figures heading toward a familiar pub, she realised someone else was about to do the same.


	10. Chapter 9: Green Sludge

**Chapter 9**

"Sit there and don't touch _anything!"_ Simon barked at Ray and Chris as he marched them into CID and pointed them towards a desk. He knew he was going to be in for it and he was right. No sooner had he spoken than a bunch of terrible impressions of him began but luckily before he had a chance to get too angry with them a flying Shaz distracted everyone.

"_Chris!"_

Never before had she been so relieved to see him. In fact, rarely had _anyone_ been so pleased to see him.

"Shazza!" Chris barely managed to say her name before her arms were around his neck as she cried,

"You shouldn't go wandering off, this place is full of oddballs these days!"

"_Ahem?!"_ Simon cried.

"_These_ days?" Gene mumbled. He'd seen more oddballs in his lifetime than Ray had had pints.

"What are we supposed to do with them?" Robin asked as he scratched his head.

"We need to collect the full ruddy set and get them back to the boozer," Gene told him.

"I'll go and get Susannah and Malcolm," Simon told them, "best to keep them all in one place." But before he had a chance Marci came rushing in.

"_Guv!"_ she cried, "a riot's broken out in the canteen!"

Simon froze.

"What?"

Marci screeched to a halt in front of Gene.

"All these weirdos I've never seen before just came in and started yelling about sprouts!" she told him, "it's getting out of hand!"

"Bugger," Gene wished, not for the first time, that he'd decided to stay in bed that morning.

Simon began to look even more worried.

"Weirdos you've never seen before?" he repeated and she nodded.

"Yes."

"You _sure_ you don't know any of them?"

"Are you suggesting the sort of company I keep riots about sprouts?" Marci demanded looking quite threatening and Simon swallowed.

"N-no," he protested, "I just…" he glanced at Gene, "I was concerned about you running into somebody you knew," he said pointedly and Gene understood what he meant. He nodded slowly as he thought about how far Simon had come. From resenting his role in the world he now had its safety in mind more than anyone else, so it seemed. The world had already broken enough for one day. Simon was determined to keep Eddie away from Marci.

"Maybe you should take a tour of the corridors," Gene told him, "make sure there's no other intruders lurkin'."

"Right," Simon nodded, making a dash for it.

"We'll check the sprout riot," Robin volunteered before disappearing out of the office with Kim, leaving Gene to deal with Marci and a bunch of rogue pub leavers. He could already see a sad Marci watching Shaz and Chris hugging on the corner and knew that he needed to get her out of the way before any more damage could be done. He closed his eyes. There was only one thing he could do now. He had just one option left.

"What do you want _me_ to do?" she asked him, almost on queue and he eyed her seriously.

"Very important job for you, DC Fell," he told her and she nodded.

"Name it."

Gene took a deep breath.

"Lattes," he said, "eight of the buggers. With enough sugar to rot the teeth of the entire population of Europe."

~xXx~

"_Can you please form an orderly queue for the sprouts?"_

"Oh my _god."_ Kim's mouth fell open as she stood in the doorway. She'd had some pretty interesting first days at new jobs before but this just about took the biscuit. She tilted her head slowly to one side. "Huh."

"They're… actually eating the sprouts," Robin stared on in shock. He turned to Kim, "they're _physically eating _the _sprouts."_

"How else do you eat them if not physically?"

"You don't eat them at _all!"_ Robin cried, "they're canteen sprouts! They have the consistency of wet slime!"

"This lot must be sick or something," Kim said, shaking her head. "Speaking of which, the smell's turning my stomach. Can we just get them out of here?"

"The spouts or the people?"

"Both," Kim gagged. She started to walk toward the rowdy gathering. "Alright, canteen's closing. Everybody out." The wall of groans that met her did nothing to calm her rising temper. "Come on_, out! _Take your sprouts and leave the premises!"

"Up to CID, all of you," Robin began waving his arms as though herding sheep, "come on."

"What about my sprouts?" A pissed off Vickery had only just managed to reach the head of the line.

Robin wanted to scream.

"Get your sprouts and then _go!"_ he told him, pointing to the door.

Vickery scowled as a large dollop of green stuff found its way onto his plate.

"Fine," he mumbled.

"Bloody hell," Robin groaned as he watched Vickery slink past, sprouts in hand.

"OK, up to CID," Kim started to wave people past, "we'll have you back to the pub before you can say _green sludge."_

"It's not even Christmas yet," Robin groaned, "why are they serving sprouts?"

"Why are this lot _eating_ them?" Kim grumbled.

"Could be due to the high blood alcohol level," Robin suggested.

"Then let's get them back to the pub before they sober up and work out what they're eating," Kim told him.

Standing at the front of the canteen was a flustered Jake, who'd been trying desperately to keep order while Marci went for back-up. He looked at Robin and Kim as though they had all the answers.

"What the _hell_ is even going on here?" he cried.

Robin felt himself flush with heat across his cheeks. He'd barely spoken to Jake since Kim's return and Jake had continued to go out of his way to avoid Robin. Even though circumstances were bizarre and there were more important things to worry about than embarrassment and awkwardness he still felt uncomfortable talking to him.

"_Sorry,"_ he mumbled, pushing a couple of sprout enthusiasts away from the counter, "erm, recruitment tour. Trying to draft people into the force by way of sprouts." He started to panic as Jake began to follow the crowd out of the canteen and blocked him. "You'd better stay here," he said.

"Don't you need some help?" Jake asked.

"I think that poor woman needs your help more," Robin told him, nodding towards the counter where the usual large bottomed member of staff was sprawled on the floor, unconscious from the shock.

"_They were buying the sprouts,"_ she murmured, ladle in the air.

Kim gave a nostalgic smile.

"Her arse is still as big as I remember," she sighed happily. Something _else_ that didn't change.

"Come on," Robin scratched his head, "we've got to make sure this lot make it safely back to Gene," he noticed Kim's finger dipping into a plate of green stuff, then heading terrifyingly close to her mouth. "_Ew_, Kim, _no!"_ he cried, snatching her hand away, "Don't eat the sprouts!"

"I just wanted to know if they tasted the same!" Kim protested as Robin grasped her by the wrist and pulled her towards the door.

"I've only just got you back, I'm not losing you to sprout poisoning," he declared and began the journey back to the office.

~xXx~

Simon was getting out of breath. He'd been back and forth, up and down stairs, back and forth along corridors and so far there'd been no sign of Eddie.

"What the hell am I going to tell Gene?" he mumbled as he set off back to CID. Just as he was rushing past his own office something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye and he stopped for a moment. He backed up and peered through the window in the door, swallowing a little tearfully at the sight that greeted him. "_Oh god,"_ he whispered as he slowly opened the doorway and stepped inside.

In front of the filing cabinets stood Eddie and Lindsay, each with a big pile of papers in their arm. They were smiling and chatting away, as though nothing was amiss. Lindsay glanced up and greeted Simon with a warm smile.

"Morning, sir!" she said brightly.

"What on earth are the pair of you _doing?"_ Simon asked, hands on his hips, mouth twitching into a sad smile.

"Your desk was overflowing," Eddie explained, "we thought we should help you out a bit."

Simon swallowed. The emotions swamping him were overwhelming. Both Eddie and Lindsay had lost their lives in his arms and now here they were, back again.

"You pair of…" he smiled and shook his head, _"thank you_," he said quietly.

"Hey, you're wearing the cheesy jumper!" Lindsay smiled and Simon laughed.

"You always were the only person to like this thing," he told her.

"What's not to like?" Lindsay asked, "it's so Christmassy, so cheesy, it's so bad that it's cool."

Simon closed his eyes for a moment, just savouring the moment. It could almost have been real, Lindsay and Eddie back tending to his paperwork. It started to occur to Simon just how much he'd missed them both – and how much Gene must miss all the men and woman that he'd led to the pub. It made Simon feel suddenly very saddened. He blinked and warned himself not to start shedding tears as he opened the door a little wider.

"Come on, guys," he said, "I'll finish that later. Let's get you back where you belong."

He felt another pang of sadness as he watched them smile as they left. He missed _Bask._ He missed his old crew. He felt very out of place now. The club was more Robin's scene, Simon stuck out like a sore thumb - with or _without_ his jumper. He'd never really found a place to head socially since _Bask_ closed its doors and transcended the physical world. Now there it had a _smooooooth_ DJ whose job echoed Nelson's and a doorway that led right into the Railway Arms but Simon had nowhere to spend an evening on the town.

He sighed heavily as he followed his two old friends along the corridor and into CID where an overwhelming stench of sprouts rose from the room.

"_Oh my fucking god,"_ he cried, immediately pressing his sleeve to his nose. Maybe the wool of the jumper would filter out the sprouts.

"I know," Robin choked as they stood back and surveyed the chaotic scene, "I'm sorry, Si. I had to let them bring the sprouts. It was the only way they'd come."

"_Two, four, six…"_ Gene counted the escapees two at a time and tried to work out whether anyone was missing. Eventually he decided they were pretty much accounted for. Spying a bottle of his best scotch doing the rounds, he swiped it back and scowled at the rowdy lot. "_Oi!"_ he scowled, "there's plenty of this down the boozer," he snatched the bottle back from an annoyed Ray, "and the stuff down there isn't attached to a black eye," he threatened as he took it back into his office and locked it away in a drawer. As he came back into the main office Kim scratched her forehead.

"Tell me we don't have to do the nursery kid route-marching thing again," she pleaded.

"You want to hire a bloody coach, go ahead, but the expense is on you," Gene told her and Kim groaned.

"Fine," she said.

"What do you mean _nursery kid route-march?"_ Robin frowned.

"Think yourself lucky this is the first time for you," Simon told him, "we've been through this once before."

"And this had bloody better be the last time," Gene snapped. He took a deep breath, clapped his hands loudly and stomped to the door. "Right. Either we're about to go on the biggest bloody drugs bust this side of Nick Nailer's last birthday party or I'm about to escort your sorry backsides back to the pub. Two straight lines. No hair-pulling. And you'd better get me one in before I bugger off again," he declared.

"What about Alex?" Robin asked, "will she be waiting there?"

"If not then Nelson's going to get a large _I Love London_ surprise inserted up his nostril," Gene warned and began to stomp along the corridor, a team of sprout-obsessed detectives behind him.

Kim and Simon exchanged a glance which turned into a fond, nostalgic smile.

"Feel like we've been here before?" Simon asked her and Kim's smile grew a little broader.

"Feels like yesterday," she whispered.

It was almost like that near-decade of sadness had never happened. For the first time Kim felt as though she really had slotted right back in, except this time around it was even better. She knew she belonged now. She wasn't yearning to be part of a another world. She had Robin by her side, Alex in her life and her best friend back again. It was strange but it was _home_. That was something Kim had rarely felt in all of her days.


	11. Chapter 10: Calling Time

**Chapter 10**

Alex could hear the sound of the wind blowing around her mixed in with the noise of cars and people chattering. Her mind was spinning, her thoughts so mixed up. She seemed to be dotting around Gene's timeline and she had no idea what was going to happen next, but she knew one thing for sure – she wasn't home.

Slowly she sat up; the hard pavement beneath her leaving little indents on her arm and leg.

"Now where am I?" she mumbled as she began to look around, then stopped abruptly as her eyes fixed upon Gene, again – looking a little more familiar now, more like the Gene she met in 1981, except that his expression was troubled and haggard, and he wasn't alone.

_"Pint, Gene?"_

Alex exhaled with a heavy sigh as she watched the two men approaching a very familiar building.

"Sam Bloody Tyler," she whispered, a very sad smile emerging. She bowed her head slightly as the familiar sensation of the glowing energy, like strange static, began to make the hairs on her arms stand on end. She knew what she was watching. The look on Gene's face told her everything.

_"I'll pass for now,"_ he said sheepishly, hanging back a step or two, hands in pockets, bringing a frown to Sam's face.

_"I've never seen you refuse a free drink."_

With a nod of the head Gene uttered his final words to the last friend he would have for the best part of fifteen years.

_"You can owe me."_

"Oh _Gene,"_ Alex whispered, her eyes fixed on the two men and her heart sinking into her shoes. She'd seen Gene bid some sad farewells, and had several of her own, but this broke her heart to see. With every step Sam took toward the pub she watched Gene crumble a little more as the truth came over him; his expression near identical to the one he'd worn as his body had given up his secrets at Farringfield Green. She swallowed deeply and brushed a tear away from her cheek as Sam pulled open the door and stepped inside the glowing structure to the strains of David Bowie.

She watched Gene as he stood and stared, then bowed his head. He stayed on the spot for several moments, silently saying his own goodbye to the man who'd changed his life so much since his arrival in the seventies, then finally turned and began to walk away. The next time he visited the Railway Arms it would simply be a boozer. Right there and then it had taken his friend to his final, peaceful existence.

Eventually he wiped his sleeve against his nose, turned and shuffled slowly away, his expression gradually changing as his memories had already started to fade. Alex's heart began to break as she watched him; a man whose whole reality had just been shaken and his best friend gone in a flash. She felt herself starting to shale. Was she cold? She couldn't really tell. Very slowly, she got to her feet and looked around. Gene was heading towards a car she'd seen not long ago, a rusty old Cortina that had picked up more than its fair share of war wounds along the way. The handle shook loosely as he tried to unlock the door and he mumbled to himself about buckets of rust and needing new wheels, then out of the blue he looked up and for a split second seemed to catch Alex's gaze. Her stomach fell away into her knees and she closed her eyes. It was all she could do to stop herself from running in his direction and throwing her arms around him, but this was a Gene who didn't know her, except perhaps as a suspect he'd picked up twice, once for running Sam off the road and again for allegedly pissing on a tramp. She had to turn away, she needed to get back to her own Gene and there ahead of her was the pub. Could it be that simple? Could she walk in and find Nelson and Sam waiting with Shaz? Or would she walk in to find a bunch of 1970s coppers, all sharing an end of job drink?

"Only one way to find out," she whispered to herself.

She could still smell the static in the air but the glow was fading and she knew she needed to act quickly if this truly was her chance of getting home. Purposefully she strode forward toward the pub, shaking a little more with every step. She folded her arms as a barrier against the chill winds, even though she knew that the cold was only partly responsible for her shivers. The dizziness started to return and she found it difficult to reach her target as her head spun and her limbs grew heavy.

"You are _not_ making this very easy for me," she hissed to the world as she finally found herself at the door and grasped the handle. She could hear muffled Bowie noises coming from within but her chest felt heavy and compressed and it was getting harder to breathe.

"Come on, _relax_," she told herself and with one very deep breath she pulled the door. It gave some resistance which worried her; last time it had opened freely but this time it fought back. "Come _on_," she muttered as she pulled again, this time a little harder, and like the seal popping on a vacuum once it came away it opened fast. She quickly found herself falling backwards from the force of the opening door until she felt her head hit the hard tarmac outside. The sharp pain that ran through her skull forced her eyes shut and her face screwed up in agony as the sound of music was growing louder and voices seemed to swirl around her.

She couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't get up, couldn't ask for help.

_Shit_, was the last thing she thought before she blacked out and fell into a deep sleep filled with nightmares of tramps pissing on David Bowie.

X

"_They flickered."_

_"They didn't."_

_"I'm telling you they did."_

"_They did not!"_

"_Alright…"_ Alex heard a slight rustling of paper amid the voices, _"there. Fiver says she wakes up in the next two minutes."_

"You're on."

Alex had a pretty damn horrible feeling that they were talking about her. The sound of Ray making a bet with god knows who else about her state of consciousness had already angered her and she had neither the will nor the patience to wait for two minutes to see Ray lose a fiver so she forced open her eyes and blinked a few times as the bright sunshine pouring through the windows made it difficult to see.

"Hey, what did I tell you?" Ray gave a smug laugh as he claimed his winnings and Alex very slowly started to right herself. Someone grasped her arm to help her into a sitting position and as she sat she mumbled;

"So _when_ am I now?" Finally her vision cleared and she looked at the face of the man who'd pulled her up from the ground. "Gene?" she blinked a few times in surprise but her heart quickly sank. Oh _god_, she was gate-crashing some grand outing of A-Division, wasn't she?

"Bolly?"

_Oh dear sweet relief._ Alex closed her eyes and exhaled. Nope, this was _her_ Gene. This was _actually_ her Gene, not the dinosaur version she'd had the misfortune to encounter at three points of his timeline. She opened her eyes again and looked around, first at Gene's expression of concern mixed with annoyance at losing a fiver to Ray, the collection of faces she hadn't seen in such a long time and a rather sheepish Sam and Nelson.

"Thank god for that," she groaned. She had started to wonder if she was lost in Gene's past for good.

"Well done, Bols, you've saved Nelson from emergency surgery to extract souvenirs from every orifice," Gene told her but stopped abruptly as she landed a hard slap against his cheek. "What the ruddy hell did I do to deserve _that?"_ he demanded.

"Trying it on in nineteen seventy three!" Alex told him crossly, aware of Ray laughing at the spectacle nearby. It only took her a second to deal him a slightly more painful blow. "And _that_ was for calling me _clip-clop!"_ she told him crossly.

"What?" Ray spread his palms innocently in complete confusion, "when have I ever bloody called you clip-clop?"

"Ma'am," the anxious tone of Kim's voice caught Alex's attention, "are you alright?"

"You were just lying on the doorstep," Simon began, a look of panic on his face and Alex felt a strange sensation of sadness fall cross her shoulders as she looked at him.

"I'm OK," she said quietly, staring at Simon's features and slotting into place all the elements of the woman she'd seen not long ago. Robin had always said Simon was the spit of his mother. He'd been right. She wanted desperately to tell Simon that she'd seen her. The words '_your mother was beautiful' _hung on the tipoff her tongue but she wasn't sure they would be welcome, especially not there and then in the middle of the pub full of people. She didn't want to upset him or make him feel uncomfortable. All she did was to give him a little smile. She felt almost honoured to have seen her. Even Robin never had.

"Been worrying our backsides off over you and it turned out you were passed out, pissed on the doorstep," Gene told her and she rolled her eyes, staring at him admonishingly.

"I can assure you that despite numerous arrests and accusations not a drop of alcohol has passed my lips," she told him, "_yet_. But it will."

"There was _one_ little measure," Nelson reminded her and Alex shifted her glare.

"Not big enough," she told him, "I'll be needing the full bottle to get over what I've been through."

"You'll have a job," Sam commented, "_someone_ seems to have finished it."

Alex glanced at a somewhat inebriated Shaz as she hiccupped and fell off her stool.

"Oh dear," Alex closed her eyes and sighed.

"She's been a little… _distressed_," Nelson said tactfully.

Gene pulled Alex to her feet and made a half-hearted attempt at dusting her down which was more or less an excuse to touch her backside.

"You survived yer journey then?" he asked gruffly but there was worry in his eyes. Alex supposed she had a prescient for disappearing into other times. No wonder Gene had been worried. Despite the knowledge that she was going to have severe words with the man later on, the sight of her _own_ Gene right there in front of her brought a wide smile of relief to her face and she nodded.

"I survived," she told him, "_you_ may not do the same. I have a few questions for you about your nineteen seventies interview techniques."

Gene glanced anxiously at Nelson.

"You sure there's no more of that scotch, Nelson?" he asked, "this might be a good time for getting me better half paralytic."

"Speaking of which," Kim looked worriedly at Shaz, curled up and snoring on the floor, "i-is she OK?"

Alex glanced at Kim who seemed very pale and worried.

"She'll be fine," she told her quietly.

"She doesn't look it."

Alex turned away from Gene to address Kim properly.

"Kim," she began seriously, "I had to tell her. I had no choice."

Kim bit her lip and looked at Alex worriedly.

"How did she take it?" she whispered and Alex glanced at Shaz.

"You can probably see that it could have gone better," she said, "but…" she gave a deep sigh. There was an instance of relief, that Shaz was one less person to keep the secret from although she understood only too well how difficult Shaz was going to find it being on the other side. It was a horrible secret to bear. "But she'll be fine," Alex said determinedly, "because we know Shaz and we know how strong she is. Don't we?"

Kim nodded slowly with a nervous smile.

"Yes," she said quietly.

"Not to break up the emotional support group you've got going on," Gene rested his hand against Alex's arm, "but I think Nelson wants to lock up."

"True, Mon Brave," Nelson set off for the counter, "it looks like I have a lot of thirsty customers waiting."

"And I've got some apologizing to do," Sam looked sheepishly at Alex, "Sorry. Looks like the exit led out in the wrong direction."

"You think so?" Alex raised an eyebrow, "next time I'm just going to jump straight out of the window. Believe me, it's safer."

Gene's eyes scanned the sea of familiar faces and a twinge of sadness gnawed inside of him. There had been so many goodbyes and now here they were, facing another one. He decided to go for the ripping-off-a-plaster approach. _Best make it fast, get it over with._

"Batman," he began, "you're the one lifting weights three nights a week, a seven-stone sergeant should be no bother."

Robin closed his eyes and sighed. Carrying an unconscious Shaz back to the station was just about going to top off his day.

"Yes, Guv," he sighed as walked over to her and reluctantly made an attempt at hauling her over his shoulder which resulted in getting a shoe in his eye.

Gene nodded at Nelson.

"Keep the beer flowing, Nelson," he told him, "they need something to wash down the sprouts."

"Not a problem," Nelson smiled, already reaching for a couple of glasses.

Gene's stare shifted to Sam and they exchanged a slightly uncomfortable smile. Gene was only too aware that the last time they'd met was in Manchester just after Robin's 'transfer' had been made permanent. Awkward conversations about Simon's parentage had ensued and it had also been mere weeks since Sam and Simon had stopped him from making the mistake of a premature lock-in.

"I hope you've been keeping all me drinks cold," he said and Sam nodded.

"All ready and waiting when you're ready," Sam told him, both as aware as one another that it was still not time yet. Eventually Gene turned back to Alex and took a deep breath.

"Right, Lady B," he began, "let's get you back to the station. Long-arsed journey like you've been on, yer bound to be hungry," he raised an eyebrow. "if you're lucky they might still have enough sprouts left in the canteen."

"Mmmm, lucky me," Alex raised her eyebrows.

A melancholy mutter of collective goodbyes accompanied Alex, Gene, Simon, Robin and Kim as they walked to the door, along with a less than alert Shaz fast asleep over Robin's shoulder. It felt so strange; familiarity, nostalgia and a pinch of de ja vu. As the door closed behind them and they turned around to watch the building fading away they were all aware that the delicate nature of the world, more so than ever.

"Some first day, huh?" Robin said gently as he glanced at Kim.

"Hmm… Pretty much as I expected," Kim said cheekily.

Gene nudged Alex forward.

"Come on, Bols," he said, "if you want to yell at me for things I did twenty odd years ago we'd better get moving."

Alex laughed softly.

"No yelling," she promised, "just… some gentle reminders."

Gene winced.

"Oh good."

_**~xXx~**_

_**A/N: Please bear with me if updates are sporadic or come too fast or if my editing is less than ideal. I'm going through a miscarriage right now.**_


	12. Chapter 11: Contraband Goods

**Chapter 11**

Gene unscrewed the cap of his hidden scotch and watched the liquid glub its way out of the bottle. He handed a glass to Alex as she perched on the edge of his desk.

"_Thank you,"_ she sighed as she took a long, slow sip, savouring the moment.

"Funny old day."

Gene was risking her wrath and he knew it. More than that, it was his whole reason for saying it. He glanced at her and watched the glare spread across her face.

"Funny old _past,"_ she retorted pointedly and Gene hung his head with a wry smile. He reached for his own glass and swilled the liquid around.

"So when are you handing back me ring?" he asked.

"I'm not," Alex told him, a light smile breaking through. She looked at him seriously and told him, "Gene, you've come a hell of a long way."

Gene studied her expression.

"So you've had a tour of me finer moments," he commented.

"How did you know?"

"The slapping was me first clue," Gene reminded her. He sighed. "Nah. First clue was when me telly went on the blink." She looked at him curiously, "managed to tune into the pub channel"

"Ahh, now that doesn't launch until next year," Alex told him but the joke was wasted on Gene.

"Spoke to everyone's favourite landlord," Gene told her, "happened to catch a bloody commercial presentation for me old Cortina too." He topped up both their glasses then hid the bottle away again. "So. Where'd you go, Bolly?"

Alex swallowed a mouthful of scotch and looked back at him.

"My first stop was nineteen seventy three" she raised an eyebrow, "anything significant happen to you in that year…?"

Gene's expression changed as he scowled.

"Sam bloody Tyler happened."

"Exactly. And you were blaming me for that."

"How exactly did me handsome former self reach that conclusion?"

"You arrested me for running Sam off the road," she told him and watched him scratch his head with a sigh, "apparently Sam's entry into your world was facilitated by an alleged car accident. I was getting the blame for that."

"Bloody hell," Gene rubbed his face, " we looked into the possibility of some crap driver sending him for an off-road spin," he told her, "came to nothing."

"Possibly because you were accusing weary time travellers of the impossible," she raised her eyebrow with a slightly anxious smile.

"So let's hear it," Gene told her, "what did I do? What did I shove between yer breasts; me face or me hand?"

"_Neither_," Alex told him, "as you well know." She began to look a little awkward as she said, "that wasn't the only part of your past I visited, Gene. Mrs Shoebury…"

She watched as Gene's expression froze, then slowly started to fall.

"Bollocks," he declared, "Suppose you had a ringside seat did you? Me technique's improved since then as I'm sure you'll have noticed…"

"No, _no_ Gene," Alex shook her head, "I didn't see… _that_," she blanched, "I'd never be able to look Simon in the eye again if I had. But I saw her. And you." She laid her fingers on his arm, "I saw what happened. I mean at the station." She swallowed, not sure what she wanted to say, "Gene… you never intended for it to happen. Believe me, I saw it for myself."

The look on his face morphed and changed several times over the next few seconds, from shock to relief to confusion and finally awkwardness. He cleared his throat then drank a lot of alcohol before he finally said,

"I'm not a cheater, Bolly."

"I know that."

"Me marriage was already on its last legs."

"You were trying to do a good deed."

"A good deed that came back and bit me on the backside twenty years down the line." Gene pointed out. Through the glass of the office door he could see Simon and Kim talking in the office outside. "As far as mistakes go it's got to rank in me top five at least."

"I don't know," Alex said quietly, "from what you told me on the way back here your _mistake_ more or less single-handedly prevented the situation becoming far, far worse. Thinking on his feet, stopping Marci and Jake from meeting people they used to know – it might not be what you want to hear but the phrase '_chip off the block'_ comes to mind there, Gene."

Gene's eyes fixed on Simon's smile as he talked to his old friend. Since finding peace with Robin and welcoming his best friend back he'd really come to life and for the first time since his arrival in the world he looked as though he genuinely felt at home. Gene had trouble seeing Simon as his flesh and blood, but as a good friend Gene was pretty damn proud of him.

"Had his head screwed on today," he agreed, then rubbed his cheek, "which is more than _I_ have after you tried to knock me block off."

"I'd say I'm sorry but you didn't see yourself in seventy three," Alex told him. She spread her legs wide and copied his mannerisms, a gesture he immediately picked up on and rolled his eyes, feeling somewhat awkward.

"I suppose I was as subtle as Shoebury's video collection," he said.

"More or less."

"Shocking _anyone_ would come back home with me, let alone Shoebury's mother."

Alex hesitated as Gene's words reminded her of something that still made little sense in her mind.

"Gene," she said quietly, "there was something else. Something I saw."

"It wasn't me underpants was it?" Gene asked suspiciously. He had a feeling that his choice in underwear was less that flattering at the time.

"No, it wasn't," Alex sighed. She sipped the last of her scotch and looked at him seriously. "Something strange happened just before I jumped again."

"You sound like an extra in Quantum Leap."

"This is serious!"

Gene looked down.

"Had a feeling it was," he mumbled, "why d'you think I tried to change the subject?"

Alex bit her lip and skimmed her fingers along the surface of the desk.

"I'd just been questioned," she told him, "in connection with a certain _pissing_ incident. Which, I would like to point out, I had nothing to do with. Ray was showing me out and I saw you leave with Simon's mum. Things… started to go a little fuzzy. My head was hurting and spinning. It felt like there was… enormous pressure on my brain, Gene."

"Told you you were a bloody brainbox; too much general knowledge."

"_Listen_ to me. I could hardly keep my eyes open. I started to collapse, most likely so I could wake up elsewhere, but… but before I did you faded away and there was someone else in your place."

Alex had never seen the colour drain from someone's face so quickly.

"What?"

"You flickered in and out," she said quietly, "there was another man there. An officer. He seemed to take your place."

Gene swallowed.

"No one's talking my place, Bols, no one's got big enough feet to fill my boots."

"Things were _different_, Gene. The suspects, they were the same… but the _staff_… that was another matter."

Gene stared at her, not wanting to think about the implications.

"What exactly are you trying to tell me?"

"I don't even know myself," Alex sighed, "but we both know that the night in question… something was strange about time. About reality. It _had_ to be, for Simon to have been conceived but be born in the real world. _You're_ the one who always said things were different in Manchester." She swallowed, "what if I was seeing was glimpse of… I don't know… another world or another place?"

"This is getting too much like an episode of Shoebury's favourite sitcom for me," Gene told her warily.

"What if I was seeing who would have taken her home in the real world?"

"This _is_ real."

"In _my_ world then!" Alex cried, "in _his_ world. In _Simon's_ world? What if Simon's mother was always destined to cheat with someone that night and here it happened to be with you… but back in the _other_ world… maybe it was another officer at the station."

Gene stared at her and felt himself starting to shake just a little. He didn't like any part of this. He'd already experienced the fragile nature of the world enough for one day. This was not helping his anxiety about that.

"Whatever you saw," he began quietly, "whoever took Mrs Shoebury off for a night of carnal delights, it happened a long time ago. Now's not the time for raking up ancient history."

"No," Alex said quietly, but she couldn't shake the significance of the event. It might have been 20 years ago to Gene but she'd lived it only hours ago. The image of the man leading her away wouldn't go from her mind. He looked a little familiar, but wasn't somebody that she actually knew, she was fairly sure of that. She tried to place the face; could it have been someone she met when she was in Manchester, trying to prove Gene's identity? Or maybe in passing when she attended Sam Tyler's 'suicide'? With a sigh she shook her head. Although the face was familiar she still felt sure she'd never met him. That didn't make sense. But then again, what _had_ made sense that day? She found her glass refilled and lifted it as Gene held out his own.

"Alex," he said grimly, "right now I can't process the flaws of this world in me head. All I want to do is thank whatever stroke of luck got you back home." He clinked his glass to the side of Alex's. "Welcome back, Bolly."

Alex's smile was a little tired and nervous.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

As she sipped her drink she couldn't stop thinking about the strange day, nor the other man she'd seen in Gene's place. She recalled something she had told herself repeatedly in her early days, _everything is significant_. She couldn't shake the feeling that this was one such thing.

~xXx~

"World falls apart, people vanish, heaven breaks and the canteen sells out of sprouts," Simon placed a glass in Kim's hand, "yeah, Kim Stringer's back in town."

Kim raised one eyebrow.

"Yeah, thanks a lot for that rundown of my first day," she commented sarcastically as he filled the glass with some pilfered scotch, "Shit, does Gene know you've poached that?"

"Do I still have use of both my legs? Of course he doesn't."

Kim smiled and sipped the contraband liquid.

"Why does this always taste better when it's stolen from Gene's office?" she asked and Simon laughed.

"It's that added secret ingredient," he told her, leaving it hanging long enough to get her to ask;

"What?"

"Danger," he informed her.

Kim laughed and rubbed her forehead. It had been one hell of a day and it was only mid-afternoon.

"What happened to Evan?" she asked a little worriedly.

"He didn't come round for ages," Simon told her, "in the end they sent him to Fenchurch General. He woke up in a panic and they sedated him. Now he's being assessed for hallucinating multiple Alexes and they're trying to find a place for him in a secure facility."

Kim spluttered with laughter, then covered her mouth.

"Oh my god," she cried, trying to tone down her smile, "I'm sorry… it's not funny, not funny at all…" she bit her lip but it didn't stop her giggles, "Oh dear. Couldn't happen to a nicer man," she recalled Evan in two thousand and bollocks; the court case, his imprisonment, Beard Relief and his unethical release of Alex's book. "What a tragedy."

Robin trudged into the office with a sigh.

"My shoulder is going to drop off," he told them, "lifting weights and lifting people are not the same thing."

"How is she?" Kim asked nervously.

"She's awake," Robin told her, "She's in the medical room. I've furnished her with paracetamol and water, along with a very strong black coffee." He sat down next to Kim and pinched her glass.

"_Oi,"_ she cried as he took a sip and pulled a face, "you don't even _like_ it!"

"I know, I just wanted to see you make that face at me," Robin told her and a cross Kim rolled her eyes at him.

"Goodness, I feel _so_ appreciated," she commented and poked her tongue out in his direction before she got to her feet. She took a deep breath and straightened her clothes a little.

"Where are you going?" Simon asked.

Kim's nervous expression more or less gave him the answer.

"I think I need to talk to Shaz," she said quietly, before she hung her head, "No, I _know_ I do. I _do_ need to talk to her."

"Kim, are you sure?" Robin asked gently and Kim nodded with only a tiny hesitation.

"It's the least I owe her, Rob," she said quietly.

Robin reached out and brushed his fingers across her hand.

"You know where I am if you need me," he said quietly and Kim gave him a little smile.

"I know," she said quietly, "thanks."

"Good luck," Simon said gently and Kim nodded.

"Thank you," she said. She closed her eyes and drew in a very deep breath. She had a feeling this was going to be one of the hardest conversations of her life but she couldn't put it off forever. It had been a decade since she last laid eyes on Shaz's beautiful face; saw her smile, heard her voice, felt her heart race in her presence. She had never thought the day would come to talk to her again.

But then again this was the strangest of _all_ possible days.

"_I'm ready,"_ she whispered as she left the room.

She meant it too.


	13. Chapter 12: Old Times

**Chapter 12**

The throbbing was just abating. The spinning of the room was starting to slow down. Her mouth was feeling a little less like the inside of a sandpit with each passing moment. But the one thing Shaz couldn't find relief from was the secret weighing heavily on her mind. There was a dark cloud that stayed right above her head, never going anywhere, not for a moment. She swallowed and closed her eyes as Alex's words played through her head over and over again.

_"Sometimes people deserve another chance, they die too soon, or with big issues to deal with. Or they're hovering between life and death and they need a place to come, to stay strong while their body fights."_

"But I'm not one of them," she whispered, "I'm not even supposed to _be_ here. I was destined to die."

"You've no idea how glad I am that you didn't."

Shaz gasped out loud as her head rose and she fixed her gaze on the woman in the doorway of the medical room. Her face had aged and her body was decorated with slightly different ink and metal but there was no mistaking the look in her eyes.

"_Kim,"_ Shaz whispered and all over again her stomach felt like its contents flipped over. Her legs felt weak and she became eternally grateful that she was still sitting on the edge of the bed. If she'd been standing she would surely have ended up in a big heap on the floor.

"Oh _Shaz,"_ Kim swallowed as her pulse rose, the moment so unexpected and surreal, "I'm _so_ sorry."

"You were dead," Shaz whispered, shaking her head slowly, "they came and they told me you'd died."

"And I had," Kim swallowed, "in a way."

"You've no idea how much I've grieved," Shaz tried to hold back a year and a half of tears but it was a damn impossibility. Luckily she wasn't the only one, and Kim had a _decade_ of them to deal with. She brushed her sleeve against her eye angrily. Kim didn't do tears, at least not if she could help it. But then, these were very unique circumstances.

"I think I have," she whispered, "I've grieved too. Not in the same way but…" she stepped forward a little and swallowed, "I went home and I didn't think I would see any of you again. You, Simon… I thought you'd been a figment of my imagination. I went back and forth on how real you were for years. But I knew one thing, which was that I couldn't get over this place." She looked at Shaz. "Nor you."

"Couldn't get over you either," Shaz whispered. She clawed at her tears in frustration, "Is this real? I mean, am I supposed to believe I'm talking to you now?!"

Kim shrugged helplessly.

"I'm not sure I believe I'm really talking to you either," she whispered.

Shaz stared at her and in her mind she travelled back; back to nights in the club, the heady music pulsing out while they danced, their bodies moving together, their lips touching, their eyes saying what words couldn't express. She remembered their first night together and being sprung by Simon the following morning. She remembered the last time they'd kissed one another goodnight, neither knowing that the next day would bring Kim's time in the world to an end at the blade of a knife, the same way by which she'd found her route in.

"There… there was a funeral," she whispered, scarcely able to bear the memory of the god-awful day, "We buried you and… you've got a grave, and…"

"I know, I know," Kim nodded slowly. She knew she was shaking but hoped that Shaz wouldn't see, "They showed me. I can't even begin to tell you how much of a _fun_ field trip that was."

Shaz looked down, a teardrop falling onto her knee.

"I'm not… _real_," she said quietly.

"Don't say that, you _are_ real," Kim told her.

"But I'm not! DCI Drake told me I died… or I was supposed to die, but –"

Kim crossed the room and grasped Shaz's hand firmly.

"There," she said quietly, "does that feel real?"

"What –"

"Can you feel that?"

Shaz nodded shakily.

"Of course."

"That's how real you are," Kim told her softly, "that's how real _I_ am, and that's how real all of this is." She sat down by Shaz's side. "You know I used to… used to think of my old home as '_the real world'_. I thought this was all in my head. And even when I felt like it was… more tangible… more real… I still thought of this as a place that wasn't 'the real world'." She bit her lip as she looked at Shaz nervously, "but then, I went home. And I didn't… I never quite felt… _right_," she looked away again as she admitted something she always found hard to say. "Shaz, I realised that the world I used to belong to was only as real as I wanted it to be because real… real is whatever feels solid and true in your heart. When I was here I found friendship. Respect." She looked back at Shaz, "_love_." She watched Shaz's cheeks darken as she gave Kim the littlest smile. "But when I went back to the place I called home…" she sighed very deeply, "It wasn't real to me any more. I felt fake. I was going through the motions. And I never really felt as though I was in the right place. This world… even for the years I questioned whether it existed outside of my head… it felt more real to be than going home ever did."

Shaz started to feel something that she wasn't expecting to. It bordered on pity.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered quietly.

"I had some rough years bit things got better," Kim told her, "and now…" a very genuine smile appeared on Kim's face, "now I'm back here… I know I'm where I belong. I'm where I was supposed to be. It's not the world I was born in. But, to me at least, _this_ is the real one." She squeezed Shaz's hand a little harder, "and it's your world too. Your place in it… it might be unique… but it's as solid as this."

Shaz stared at the hand over her own. She'd never thought she would feel Kim's touch again.

"_I missed you,"_ she whispered, trembling. She could feel from her hand that Kim was shaking too.

"I missed you too, Shaz," she whispered.

"You were the love of my life, Shaz told her.

"You were my first love," Kim told her softly.

Shaz swallowed hard.

"I still love you," She whispered.

Kim's eyes skipped away for just a moment.

"I loved you for a very, very long time," she whispered.

She could feel Shaz's hand tense beneath her own. Her head dropped and she breathed in slowly.

"But not anymore?" she asked quietly, her voice trembling.

Kim swallowed. Almost imperceptibly she shook her head.

"It took me… eight years to meet someone," she whispered, "I'd… had other relationships," she wiped her eyes, "but I felt frozen inside."

"Until you met Chief Inspector Thomas," Shaz said quietly. It was a statement rather than a question and Kim nodded her head.

"But," she whispered, "you will always be my first love, Shaz. Nothing's ever going to change that."

Shaz nodded, a sad smile playing on her lips.

"I think you were mine," she told Kim quietly. Although she'd had several relationships before meeting Kim she'd never felt the same way about any single one of them. I fact there was only one other person who'd started to draw from her the same kind of feelings, and she'd damn well screwed that up because she couldn't let go of her feelings for Kim. With a sigh she realised that her feeling had been right, she'd been unable to let go of Kim for a reason. She'd never felt she had closure and now she knew why – because the woman she'd thought was long dead had always been destined to return. She just hoped that, now she was starting to feel a little of the closure she'd been needing, perhaps Marci would give her another chance. "Actually," she said quietly, "there's someone... Maybe. I don't know."

Kim turned to her and gave her a nervous smile.

"There is?"

Shaz nodded slowly.

"She's in CID. She's lovely, she's great fun and everyone likes her."

"Does she like you too?"

Shaz looked away a little coyly.

"I hope so," she said. It felt very strange to be having this conversation with her dead lover.

Kim rubbed Shaz's hand gently, then got to her feet.

"Shaz," she whispered, "you deserve to be happy more than anyone. And I'm _so_ sorry for everything you've gone through." She looked at her fondly, "and I've really missed you."

Shaz's lip trembled as she tried once again to hold back the tears.

"Makes two of us," she whispered as she stood up and quickly hugged her which Kim happily admitted she needed right then. She had a feeling it was going to take some time for the two of them to know how to act around one another and to find a level of friendship but they knew they'd get there because they'd meant to much to each other not to stay close.

Until then they both took comfort from the warm arms that soothed some of the trauma of the most difficult of days. That one set of events would spawn no end of consequences, of that they were both certain. But Kim had someone she held so dear to her back in her life and Shaz finally found a little of the closure she'd been seeking.

As their embrace ended and they parted with an awkward smile Shaz tidied her hungover self up a little and prepared to head off and seek out Marci. She had a question to ask her.

~xXx~

"…And it took three paramedics and two doctors to prise the ladle from her hands," Robin finished relaying to Simon the last of the gossip he'd been caught up on after they'd returned from the pub.

"Who knew a canteen worker could go into a state of shock _that_ severely?" Simon mused as Kim trudged back into the office, wiping her eyes to make sure no rogue tears remained. Robin jumped to attention.

"Hey," he said quickly, "how did it go?"

Kim's smile was a little crooked but sincere.

"It was good," she said honestly, "it went better than I expected." She was grateful for Robin's hand on her arm. That was all she needed to feel reassured.

"Must have been the weirdest conversation you've ever had," Simon theorised.

"Oh, I don't know," Kim sniffed, "it was no worse than '_hello, you don't know me but I worked with your dead fiancé in another world'."_

"Kim is the queen of weird conversations," Robin decided.

"I think we all take a share of that crown," Kim sighed as she sank into a chair and leaned back.

"It's been some day," Robin commented.

"Don't worry," Simon began, "I know a great way to take out minds off it."

"Oh yeah?" Robin began but seeing Simon's cheery expression he froze. "No."

"Yes."

"Simon, we _told_ you," Robin groaned, "we're not really up for a night on the town."

"I've kind of grown out of that," Kim said awkwardly but Simon wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Kim, come on," he insisted, "I've waited years for this!"

"You've waited eighteen months," Kim corrected, "take a ten year sabbatical from the world and _then_ you can talk about years."

"Not tonight, hmm, Si?" Robin asked, "it's been a big day and we're exhausted."

"I've felt like shit since I woke up this morning," Kim informed Simon, "I just want an early night with a pizza and some crappy videos."

Simon closed his eyes and gave a very hefty sigh.

"Fine." He said.

Kim hesitated.

"Really?"

Simon glanced at her.

"You've lost your mojo. I understand."

"Cut the reverse psychology," Robin told him.

"No, no, I'm not," Simon shrugged, "Kim used to be a wild child and a party animal. Now she's grown up. She doesn't need booze and music to have a good time."

"Exactly," Kim said, although there was a little pang of annoyance setting in.

"No, you must want to have nice, early nights," said Simon, "in your cardigan and slippers."

"Cardigan and _what?"_ Kim's expression darkened.

"I told you, Simon, cut it out," Robin warned him.

"And that's fine," Simon smiled, "we all mature at different rates, right?"

"Right," Kim frowned.

"It's just that while I'm hitting my stride…." Simon grinned, "you're hitting your bed."

"Simon, don't insult the bed, you have no idea what she keeps under it," Robin advised.

"You're not the same fun-loving ladette you were the first time around," Simon observed, "and I respect that. You couldn't keep up that fast-paced lifestyle forever."

"No," Kim hissed crossly.

"So I'll tell you what I'll do," Simon smiled amiably.

"Si, your reverse psychology is not going to work," Robin folded his arms.

"You and Rob can have an early night watching _Hetty Wainthrop Investigates," _Simon continued, the merest mention of a programme that mild sending Kim's blood boiling, "and I'll head out to the bar and raise a glass to your return. What do you think?"

Kim narrowed her eyes.

"I think," she began, "that if this is some sort of underhanded, half-arsed attempt at getting us to come out for a night instead of spending it relaxing at home by trying to press all the buttons that make me flip my lid," she glowered, "then you're a sneaky bloody bastardy and we'll see you at eight," she stood up and grasped Robins hand.

"Oh, Kim, _no!"_ he protested.

"Come on Rob," she muttered as she dragged him to the door.

"But the _pizza!"_ Robin protested.

"I'll buy you some new mascara."

Robin hesitated.

"Keep walking."

Simon smiled smugly as he watched them leave, then stood up to head off and get ready as well. He had fond memories of Kim's mission to teach him to drink, their boozy nights at _Bask_, sharing laughs and secrets while under the influence and letting loose for once in his life. Kim always brought that out in him and he'd never really had that since she left.

"Tonight is going to be one hell of a blast from the past," he grinned.

So, unfortunately, would the following morning be.


	14. Chapter 13: Good Night

**Chapter 13**

"I'm really not sure about this."

Robin's attempt at being the voice of reason fell on deaf ears as Simon led the small gathering into a pub that Robin was only slightly familiar with. He'd been there for his last birthday which hadn't exactly been the event of the decade and perhaps three or four other occasions but it wasn't usually his venue of choice. Back before Kim's arrival he'd spent a couple of nights a week at the club with Jake and Marci. Then, when he'd started drinking trough his terrible separation from Kim he had little idea _where_ he'd spent his nights. Since they'd been reunited they'd spent almost every night together, just relishing one another's company, usually heading to bed with either food or one of the objects Kim had fished out from under it.

"You couldn't hide away forever," Simon told him, "even Kim can't eat that many of your bloody pizzas."

"Erm, excuse me?!" cried Robin, "my '_bloody pizzas'_ were the only thing you'd eat for a week when you came out of hospital after your coma," Robin informed him but Simon couldn't hear because he was already heading to the bar. "Oh, what's the point?"

"Rob, it's fine," Kim told him, "we'll sit down, let him buy us a couple of rounds, enjoy some free drinks then go home."

"He wants a big night on the town!" Robin flapped, "going home is not in his game plan! He's got bars, pubs, clubs… even a late-night _museum_ tour lined up!"

"He's not going to bloody _kidnap_ us!" Kim told him, "We've played along, come out for a drink and we'll all have a laugh. Then you and me can go home and Simon can go and spend the night with his Red Dwarf videos."

"And how exactly are you planning on getting rid of him?"

"Simple. We invite him back to watch series seven."

Robin gagged.

"That ought to do it," he agreed.

They took their place at a nearby table and waited for Simon to return with a round. Soon enough three foaming pints were soon heading in their direction. Robin couldn't help but notice the less than enthusiastic look on Kim's face. She hadn't really been up for alcohol in the past few weeks. Then again, after overdoing it to a disastrous degree Robin hadn't been either. He supposed there would be plenty of time for nights out once they'd had some time alone together. Somehow neither of them felt ready for that yet.

"Beers all round," Simon told them, even though he knew Robin didn't really like it.

"Oh goody," Robin said sarcastically.

"So," Simon beamed, "we're all here."

"We could have all been watching the telly and eating pizza," Robin told him, "the invitation did extend to you, you know."

"It's not the same," Simon told them.

"We could have at least eaten a pizza first," Kim complained, "I'm starving."

"We could still get a pizza?" Robin asked hopefully.

"We will _not_ be getting a pizza, we will be getting kebabs," Simon told them, "once we've downed so many pints that your eyeballs are swimming."

"What a beautiful image," Kim commented, trying not to picture Simon's eyeballs doing synchronised swimming routines.

"Come on," Simon tried to prompt them, raising his glass, "let's drink to a great night."

"Your expectations are fairly high then?" Robin asked cautiously.

"Not as high as my blood alcohol level's going to be," Simon told them as he took a large gulp of the foaming pint.

Kim stared into her glass.

"I retired my love of lager a long time ago," she told him.

Simon rolled his eyes.

"Knew you were getting boring," he goaded.

"Your reverse psychology isn't going to work this time," Kim told him.

"Last one to finish their drink eats a plate of sprouts." Simon gabbled and began to gulp down the rest of his lager. Almost as though he'd triggered some sort of honour system in his two friends neither could bare the idea of losing the challenge or forcing down the sprouts so with a horrified glance and a joint cry of '_Shit_!' both Robin and Kim reached for their drinks and downed them before you could say _Nelson Loves London._

~xXx~

"I can't believe I have to eat the fuckin' sprouts." Robin groaned into his arms half-heartedly as he lay on the table, his head starting to swim a little. He hiccupped and the entire contents of his stomach sloshed. The first pint had been fine. The second had started to tell on him. By the third he was too far gone to do anything but follow Simon's sprout-eating dare. Part of his problem was going from a period of heavy drinking to having practically no alcohol for a month. The beer had gone straight to his head. It was also heading to his bladder. "_Scuse me,"_ he mumbled as he hauled himself upright and began to lumber towards the toilets while Kim wiped her mouth on her sleeve, giggling as she removed her foam moustache.

"Since when did you get so good at sinking pints?" she asked him.

"Since I had a lot of practice," Simon told her, "not much else to do in this place. Well, wasn't, without you. After you went home." He drained the remnants of foam from his glass. "I missed you, you know," he told her.

"Soppy twat," Kim admonished. She giggled again, "not that I didn't miss you too."

"They closed _Bask_, you know," Simon pouted dejectedly.

"Yeah, I know," Kim said sadly.

"It's my place now," Simon told her before the bubbles escaped in a loud burp, "You know, like Gene's got the pub and Alex has got that… Italian… _thing_."

"With the waiter who looks like Super Mario?" Kim asked which made Simon explode in spluttered laughter, his head dropping to the table. Kim began giggling again, tears starting to stream from her eyes as she added, "sorry, he does!"

Robin returned to the table with an empty bladder and full hands.

"Here," he said, "have a proper drink." He placed three measures of spirits down on the table; brandy for himself and scotch for Kim and Simon.

"Do only blondes drink scotch?" Kim wondered as she surveyed them. There was a moment of silence as they genuinely pondered the question.

"What about Alex?" Simon asked eventually and Kim considered momentarily.

"I'll get the hair dye," she said before beginning another bout of giggles.

"Alright," Robin began, sipping his brandy, "So, _Gamesmaster_," he turned to Simon, "this is your night. What now?"

Simon hesitated.

"Truth or dare!" he cried.

Robin closed his eyes.

"Oh no, no, _no_," he shook his head but Kim recalled a certain night that, for her, had been a decade ago with great fondness.

"Truth or dare!" she chanted, "Truth or dare!"

Simon joined in too and eventually Robin rolled his eyes and held out his palms, conceding defeat.

"Alright, alright," he sighed, "I give in. truth or dare."

"_Yessssss,"_ Kim grinned as Simon sat up straight and tried to shush them.

"OK," he said, "as the senior member of this party –"

"You mean the old one?" Robin asked which made Kim splutter into another bout of giggles, even more so when Simon scowled.

"_No_," he said severely, "I mean _senior!_ I was the first one in this world."

"Technically _I_ was," Kim raised her finger innocently.

"Yeah, and then you buggered off!" cried Simon.

"I was still here before you" Kim sang sweetly and Robin nodded enthusiastically but Simon wasn't finished yet.

_"Nineteen eighty five,_ read it and weep," he said, pulling a face as a disappointed Kim thrust her head on the table and Robin frowned.

"Read it?" he asked, "read it where?"

"It's a turn of phrase!" Simon protested.

"Don't you mean the Turner Prize?" Kim asked, only half hearing.

"No, that's what I'm going to do in the toilet if Simon makes me eat a kebab," Robin mumbled.

Kim looked at Simon.

"What were you saying about being old again?" she asked and Simon frowned.

"As the senior member of this gathering," he tried again, "it is my duty to ask you the ultimate question. Truth –" he left a dramatic pause, "_or dare?"_

"I dare you not to leave a stupid pause again," Kim told him and it was Robin's turn to giggle.

"No, I'm serious, truth or dare?" Simon asked again.

"Hold on, how does this work?" Robin asked, "do we always ask the same people? Like, go round in a circle? Or do we reverse it each time?"

"It was easier working this out when it was just me and you playing," Kim told Simon who didn't know either.

"How did we work it out when we gate-crashed Christmas?" he asked her.

"I can't remember," Kim said, then frowned, "well, I can't remember much at _all_ to be honest with you… I think it was a great big clusterfuck!"

"I don't remember doing _that_," Simon frowned.

"You're thinking of a threesome," Robin told him.

"Look, can we just get on with it?" Kim asked, "before _I_ have to go to the toilet!"

"_Fine!"_ Simon cried, "truth or dare! Not like I haven't already asked you once."

"_Truth!"_ Kim cried.

"I thought truth was the coward's way out," Simon taunted.

"Not if the question is '_which of my body parts are you going to pierce if I keep suggesting you're a coward_'," Kim raised an eyebrow and Simon gulped.

"Fair enough," he said. He leaned back and eyed her up. He had years of truths to catch up on. "Alright," he said, "what exactly do you keep under the bed?"

Simon wasn't sure which of Kim or Robin turned paler.

"What?" Kim swallowed.

"I keep hearing it referenced!" Simon protested, "you can't expect me not to ask!"

"You don't want to know, Simon, honestly," Robin warned him.

"It's truth or dare, you have to answer!" Simon reminded Kim and she sank down in her seat.

"I've got… _you know_," she swallowed, "stuff to use. In bed."

Simon hesitated.

"I take it you don't mean bed socks?" he asked. He swallowed. "D-does it take batteries?"

Kim blanched.

"Some of them do," she uttered and Simon's eyes bolted.

"How many of them _are_ there?" he cried.

"Which ones?" Kim asked, "the vibrators, the dildos or strap-on attachments?"

"Oh dear god!" Simon cried, clutching his head as his brain dissolved in mental agony, "I don't want to play this game any more!"

"_Ha!"_ Robin declared, "It was your idea! Just because it backfired worse than Kim after a curry –"

"_Hey!"_ Kim cried in horror, her face turning as red as a postbox, "Robin! That's horrible!"

"I'm sorry," Robin bit his lip, "true though."

"God, yeah, I remember," Simon made a face.

"_Oh my god,"_ Kim cried, "this isn't supposed to be pick on Kim night!" she glared at them both in turn. "Alright, Robin, truth or dare?" she raised an eyebrow and Robin gulped.

"I should have held my tongue until after my turn," he said nervously.

_"Truth or bloody dare!"_

Robin cringed.

"Truth?" he said weakly.

"Are you asking or telling me?"

"Telling you, I'm telling you. I pick truth."

Kim leaned back and folded her arms.

"Apart from me, who's the only other woman you've ever had a hard-on over?" she asked bluntly and Robin almost fell off his chair.

"What?" he whispered as he watched Simon's eyes bolt.

"Rob? What's this?"

"_It's nothing,"_ Robin hissed through gritted teeth as Kim looked smug.

"Go on then. Rob, tell Simon who it was?"

"That's not fair," Robin hissed.

"How is it not fair?"

"Truth or dare is supposed to be about asking stuff you don't know!" Robin protested, "Not… using facts against someone you know well to humiliate them in front of someone else!"

"Huh." Simon glanced from one to another, "You raise an interesting point."

"That's exactly what my question was about," Kim commented cheekily, staring between Robin's legs and making him cross them uncomfortably.

"Do you mind?!" He cried.

"Well is someone going to tell me or what?" Simon demanded. He stared at Robin who seemed to have lost about a foot of his height, sinking down beneath the table. "Come on. Robin. Spit it out."

"It was Alex," he whispered, trying to ignore Kim falling off her chair in laughter while Simon spluttered out a full mouthful of scotch. "Yes, I know, _ha ha, let's all laugh at Robin._ It had been four months, Simon! _Four months_ since you'd died, it was going off over anything!"

"Does Gene know about this?" Simon demanded and Kim exploded with laughter.

"No he does not!" cried Robin, "why the fuck would I tell _Gene?!"_

"Ooooh, speaking of hard ons and Gene," Kim began, her stare turning to Simon whose memories of his extremely ill advised crush came flooding back.

"Dare," he said quickly, "I pick dare. Obviously."

Kim pulled a face in annoyance but quickly cheered up when she caught sight of Simon's mobile phone in his pocket.

"I take it you've got Gene's number in that?" she asked.

"I am _not_ calling him up to tell him about anybody's…" he flinched, "_hard-ons."_

"God, you're still; such a bloody prude!" Kim told him, "anyway, that wasn't the dare."

"What was it then?"

"Ring him up," she said, "and describe to him in great detail the plot of every episode of Red Dwarf"

"That's going to be a very short phone call," Simon told her, "he'll hang up before I've got out a single quote."

"Keep ringing him up until he refuses to answer," Kim told him over Robin's giggles.

"Oh _god_ yes, it's no more than he deserves for yawning dramatically through every programme I wanted to watch when he was bunking down on my couch," he said and Simon had to admit the idea had appeal.

"Alright," he said, pulling out his phone and searching for the number.

"Don't say anything else to him," Kim warned quickly, "no Introductions. Just launch straight into the plot."

"Alright," Simon began, shushing them as the phone started ringing. It took a few moments before a rather breathless Gene answered.

"_What?"_ he barked down the line.

"Lister and Rimmer were fixing a dispenser," Simon told him.

"_What?"_ Gene's voice rose by half an octave.

"And they were arguing as usual because Lister was generally arsing around."

"_What?"_ Simon didn't even know Gene's voice could go that high.

"And Rimmer put him on report _two times_ in as many minutes," he continued.

"Which is what I'll be doing to _you_ tomorrow morning Shoebury, bugger off," Gene barked and the line went dead.

Simon stared at the phone accusingly.

"Bugger," he said and redialled. He didn't have to wait very long for it to be answered the second time.

"_What?"_

"So then, Todhunter comes along…"

"Shoebury, you are an arsehole of the highest order," Gene barked before the phone went dead for a second time.

"I'll just redial," Simon said amiably, hitting a button. He had to wait for quite a while for his call to be answered the third time but soon launched back into the plot.

"So Todhunter was going through all the belongings of –"

"Simon," Alex's voice came on the line, calm and collected, "Gene and I are in the process of trying to create for you a brother or sister."

Every drop of colour drained from Simon's face.

"What?"

"And unless you would prefer us to wait and do it on your desk tomorrow –"

Simon's eyes bolted.

"_What?"_ he gulped.

"Then I suggest you piss off and leave us in peace to enjoy our evening together."

Simon stared at the phone as the line went dead. He was shaking and pale as the driven snow.

"S-Simon?" Robin ventured, "is everything OK?"

Simon swallowed.

"Not really, no," he said, "I don't think I'm ever going to sleep again," he shuddered, "or go near my desk." He downed the rest of his scotch but it wasn't enough. "Excuse me, I need another drink with some urgency."

Kim and Robin exchanged a shrug as they watched Simon rush to the bar.

"I love this game," Kim said with a drunken smile.


	15. Chapter 14: Lip Service

**Chapter 14**

"There," Alex grinned smugly as she replaced the receiver and sat back in bed, "he won't be bothering us again.

"You've probably scarred the man for life," Gene told her, "a good night's work there, Drakey."

Alex seemed fairly proud of herself. She leaned against Gene and closed her eyes, just for a few seconds. She felt so safe and secure there beside him. It felt surreal to think mere hours earlier she'd been adrift in time and feared she wasn't going to make it back home.

"I can't stop thinking about it," she said quietly.

"Don't worry, a few drinks and all of Shoebury's sci fi conversations will vanish from yer memory," Gene assured her.

"I meant _today_," Alex told him, "it's bloody terrified me. Something so little can have such repercussions." She looked up at Gene. "Poor Evan."

"Poor Evan nothing," he told her, "he insisted on someone taking a plate of those sprouts over to the hospital, then stabbed a doctor with his fork. He's gone nuts, Bolly. One whisker short of a beard, that one."

"Oh, don't mention beards," Alex shuddered. She bit her lip as she thought back over the day. "Gene… the other man."

Gene eyed her warily.

"You talking about Stringer?" he asked and Alex rolled her eyes.

"Behave for once," she told him, "I meant the man who replaced you. The one who went home with Simon's mother."

"Don't worry, he's not going to make a habit or replacing me in bedroom situations," Gene told her, glancing under the covers, "I hope."

"Gene," Alex began, "the whole thing is bothering me. The man looked familiar, but I couldn't place him."

Gene hesitated.

"Did he look like Simon?"

"No," said Alex, "but then, he _wouldn't_. Because Simon's your son. So Simon looks like you."

"Bloody doesn't," Gene mumbled, "I don't have a nose like that."

"Yes you do," Alex sighed, "you know full well there's a high resemblance between you both." She gave a deep sigh. "But perhaps the _Simon_ in this world looks like the gentleman who escorted Mrs Shoebury home."

"Nope," said Gene.

"It would make sense –"

"But wouldn't be true," said Gene, "We've seen pictures of him, Bolly, remember? Our friendly neighbourhood arsonist targeted the Shoebury residence. Same Simon." He sighed and shook his head. "Bugger. Technically that means I've fathered two Simons."

"You've only fathered one Simon." Alex said dismissively, "the other Simon is just a…" she paused, "a _re-run_." She shook her head. "But we know there are… there are other places. Other worlds," she felt reluctant to talk about it. It seemed a little taboo between them. But they'd both experienced it and they knew Kim and Simon had too. There were more than two worlds and that was for certain. "Perhaps in a different world there's a Simon who resembles the man I saw today."

Gene scratched how forehead.

"Enough multiples of Simon," he told her, "he's putting me off me stride." He wrapped the duvet around them both, "now, where were we, DCI Drake?"

"Trying to up your count of children without adding more Simons to the total," Alex reminded him.

"Oh yes," Gene agreed, "I think I can remember where we left off now."

"Good."

The sound of the phone ringing brought an angry growl from Gene.

"_Shoebury!"_ he bellowed but Alex pushed him back slightly and reached across him for the telephone.

"Let me deal with this," she said as she grabbed the receiver. She brought it to her ear and tried not to giggle, "Hunt and Drake's erotic massage parlour?" she said innocently, before her face fell and her cheeks reddened a second later. "No… no, Jake, you haven't got the wrong number… No, I'm sorry…"

Gene barely hid his smirk.

"Funny old day," he echoed and received a slap on the arm for his comment.

~xXx~

"Aright," Robin almost veered into the road as the three of them walked along together, "your turn Kimmy, truth or dare?"

"Calling me _Kimmy_ must be a bloody dare," Kim accused which just made Robin laugh.

"You're taking your life in your hands doing that," Simon said warily, all too aware he'd never been brave enough to call Kim by anything other than her name.

"Alright, truth," Kim said, tripping over her own foot.

"Hmmm…" Robin chewed on his lip before he giggled, "I've got one. OK, who's the better kisser, Alex or Shaz?"

"Oh my _god,"_ Simon cried, slamming his hands over his ears, _"I don't want to know the answer to this!"_

"Oh Simon, lighten _up," _cried Robin, pulling one hand away, "it's just a bloody question."

"Which I'm not answering!" Kim cried, "I don't want the answer getting back to them!"

"Ooh, who is it then?" Robin prompted, poking her, "Oh god, is Alex a really bad kisser?"

"_No!"_ cried Kim.

"Besides, _you'd_ know," Simon couldn't help pointing out which got him a glare from Robin.

"I was _paralytic!" _he cried, "I don't even remember doing it!"

"I'm going to ask Hunt which of _you_ two was the better Kisser," Kim threatened and found a killer glare aimed at her from either side.

"Do it and die," Simon warned.

"Ooooh, I'm so scared," Kim giggled.

"You're not answering my question!" Robin cried impatiently.

"I don't know how to answer it!" Kim protested, "it's been, like, a _decade_ since I kissed Shaz, I don't remember! I can't compare them!"

Robin swayed a little and knocked into her side.

"So it's Alex then?" he asked.

"I never said that!" Kim cried.

"Didn't have to, I can see the colour of your face," Robin taunted.

"How can you even bear to ask her that question?" Simon cried, "aren't you jealous?"

"Only that they get to wear lipstick and I don't," Robin mumbled. His expression froze and he stopped walking abruptly as he saw Simon's open-mouthed stare. "I just said that out loud," he gulped, "didn't I?"

"Oh my _god!"_ Simon screamed, backing away, "the eye gunk I can just about cope with but _lipstick?"_

"_You_ don't have to wear it!" Robin said defensively.

"_Good!"_ Simon cried, covering his mouth just in case.

"What, so _you_ can wear the jumper from hell but Rob can't raid my make-up bag from time to time?" Kim accused.

"Kim, you don't _have_ a make-up bag," sighed Simon, "you raid _Robin's."_

Kim hesitated.

"True."

"Look, whose turn is it now?" Robin asked, desperate to turn the conversation away from lipstick.

"Yours, Rob," Kim told him.

"Yeah, and I've got a question for you," Simon beamed.

"Just as well I'm picking dare then," Robin pulled a face and Simon scowled.

"Bugger."

"I've got a good one for you!" Kim cried, "but you have to do it tomorrow."

"Ohhhh no, postdating dares was never as good idea," Simon reminded her.

"No, I don't mind," said Robin.

"You have to do it tomorrow," Kim warned him.

"No problem."

"On pain of death."

"OK, _that_ might be overstepping the mark."

"Alright, not on pain of death. But you have to do it or your backside gets pierced."

"Fine. What's the dare?"

"You have to ask Jake out."

Simon reeled back in horror, slamming his hands over his ears.

"Oh my _god, no_, I don't want to hear any of this."

Robin stopped waking. His expression changed and became sad and subdued.

"Kim, no," he said.

"You have to do it," Kim told him, "you agreed."

"I didn't know what the dare _was_ then!"

"That's kind of the point of truth or dare!"

"Why are you daring Robin to _cheat_ on you?" Simon was running around in circles of distress.

"It's not cheating," Kim told him haughtily, "besides, I told him to." She looked at Robin a little more seriously, "it's the only way you're going to bloody do it. If it's a dare."

Robin shook his head sadly. In the weeks after their reunion Robin and Kim had done a lot of talking and he'd told her that in her absence he'd started to become close to Jake, but despite one or two false starts they'd never managed to get off the ground. Robin's sadness connected to the situation was clear to see and from the brief interaction she'd witnessed between them during the day Kim could see that there was still something there. The situation between herself and Jake with their incompatible sexualities had left them both with extra desires and needs. Kim couldn't pretend that her night with Alex hadn't been something she needed on several levels. It made her feel somewhat upset that Robin hadn't been able to find something similar

"Kim, I'm not doing that," he told her.

She started to feel a little uncomfortable. Maybe that was a step too far for a dare? Perhaps she should have left well alone, but she had a feeling he wasn't going to listen to her otherwise.

"You still like him, right?" she asked.

Robin began walking forward again.

"That's neither here nor there," Robin told her, scuffing his shoes along the pavement, "he doesn't like me so it's just tough."

Kim began to feel a little guilty. Had she overstepped me mark with her dare? She rubbed his shoulder as she trotted along by his side.

"Sorry," she said quietly, "I'm sorry, Rob, I just… you know there was a sort of spark when you were talking earlier and –"

"How much more bloody uncomfortable can this_ get?" _cried Simon, covering his ears yet again, "my best friend is trying to get her partner of the wrong gender to go and ask some _prat_ from CID out in front of his ex-_boyfriend_, I mean…"

"Alright, alright, just _forget it!"_ cried Kim, "I'll think of something else!"

"Maybe I'll just pick a truth instead" Robin said awkwardly.

"Oh good, cos I had a question for you," Simon managed to put his trauma past him when the prospect of offering up a humiliating question came forward.

"Go on then," Robin sighed.

"Who was the better kisser, Alex or Gene?"

"I'm not bloody answering _that!"_ Robin cried.

"Why not?"

"Because I can't even remember," Robin shook his head miserably, "that was not one of my greatest moments."

"Yeah, that probably wasn't your greatest week, was it?" Simon pointed out.

"I've had better."

"Well if you're not answering Simon's question then I've got another one," Kim told him, "what would you rather do, snog the woman in the canteen with the fat arse or eat a plate of her sprouts?"

Neither Kim nor Simon had ever seen Robin so panic-stricken.

"Oh my _god_, you absolute sadist!" he cried in horror.

"You _have_ to choose one," Kim hooted with a loud hiccup.

"Good question!" Simon congratulated her as he walked into a lamp post, "oops."

"Oh my god, both options make me feel sick," Robin told them.

"So pick."

"I'll kiss the sprouts."

"That wasn't one of the options."

"Kissing them's worse than _eating_ them!" Simon gagged.

"I'll eat them then!"

"Oh _ugh!"_ Kim covered her mouth.

"You asked!" Robin protested.

"Alright, it's my turn to pick," Simon said as he attempted to keep walking in a straight line, "and I pick truth."

Kim and Robin both fell silent, trying to think of a good question for him, they absently linked arms as they walked, both as inebriated as each other.

"Oh! I've got a question for you!" Kim cried eventually, "OK, who was the last person you –" she spluttered, "_enjoyed yourself_ over?"

Simon froze on the spot, his leg hanging in the air, mid-step.

"What?"

"Come on, Si," Robin began, "it's no worse than some of the things you've been asking us."

"You have to tell us, Simon," Kim reminded him.

Simon stared at them both, the pair of happy, drunken, giggly faces. It made him feel fairly anxious suddenly. It wasn't a question he wanted to answer.

"I-I'm not sure –"

"Oh come on, Simon, that's probably one of the tamer things we've asked all night," Kim pointed out.

It was actually true. But Simon didn't think either of them was ready to hear the answer to that. Neither was he willing to admit it to himself, let alone two of the people who'd suffered the most at the hands of the man in question. Because while for the most part Simon knew that his drives and libido weren't as overactive as some of his friends and colleagues' seemed to be – the things he'd walked in on at Fenchurch East would be banned from broadcast on most countries after all – every now and then his urges sprang from nowhere and he needed to take himself off for an early night.

But increasingly his thoughts had been turning to a person that he knew was wrong. He hated himself for it. The moments of humanity were the parts he couldn't help himself over

He closed his eyes. There was no way on earth that he was going to utter the truth , no matter what the name of the game. So he shook his head and muttered,

"It was probably Mulder. X-Files repeats. You know how it is."

"Oooooo, thought so!" Kim hooted while Robin laughed

"The truth - or dare - is out there," he cried, causing Kim to groan from the terrible pun.

"Rob, that's awful," she told him.

"I don't care," Robin giggled.

Simon felt his face burning as they walked along. At least he could blame it on the alcohol. The truth was something neither of them would ever want to know. Luckily for Simon they'd reached their next venue and joined the queue to enter the club.

"More truth or dare later?" Kim asked and Robin and Simon vaguely mumbled some agreement, more concerned with getting inside to use the facilities to empty their bladders and top up their blood alcohol levels. The night had only just started and there were hours stretching out ahead of them. Despite a few hairy moments during truth or dare all three felt happy and relaxed in one another's company.

Booze, music and friendship were going to ensure the best night on record.

The following morning, however, just might be another story.


	16. Chapter 15: Never Again

**Chapter 15**

There was a time that Simon's head had been made of flesh, blood and bone.

This was not that time.

On this particular occasion it was made of cotton wool and pain.

"_Oh my fucking god,"_ he whimpered as a hand rose to his forehead. He attempted to open his eyes but someone appeared to have installed a blinding light to prevent that from occurring. The same person appeared to have installed a pneumatic drill beside him. "_Ow, ow, ow,"_ he groaned as he covered his ears. That's when he froze. It wasn't a pneumatic drill after all. It appeared to be some unpleasantly loud snoring. "Oh _fu-u-u-u-u…" _Simon's eyes finally opened and he tried to focus on the face lying beside him in bed. There was blonde hair, dark roots and a pool of dribble. "Oh _shit!"_

"Oh _fuck!"_

"_Argh!"_ screamed Simon as another voice came from behind him and his neck snapped round to find Robin laying to his other side. "Oh _shit!"_ he cried again which awoke Kim with a loud snort and a lengthy groan.

"Oh _god_," she moaned, "my damn _head_…"

"Uh," Simon cleared his throat, "Morning."

The sight of an unexpected Simon made Kim's eyes bolt and she scrambled up in bed, clutching the duvet to her chest.

"_Fuck!"_ she cried.

"What the hell are you doing in our bed?" Robin demanded as Kim risked peering under the sheets and instantly regretted it.

"And why are you the only one of us who's _naked?"_ she screamed.

Simon turned extremely pale.

"Why is my arse so sore?" he whimpered.

"And why is my piercing equipment spread… all over… the… room…" Kim gulped, _"Uh-oh."_

A horrified Simon scrambled around, grabbing at his backside.

"Oh my _god_, Kim, you pierced my _arse!"_ he cried, "you _actually_ pierced my _arse!"_

"Oh shit," Robin blanched.

"Oh my _god!"_ Kim screamed, "that means I _touched_ your _arse!"_ she shuddered and turned a luminous shade of green, "I touched Simon's arse, oh my god…" her hand rose to her mouth. "I feel sick."

"_My arse isn't that bad!"_ Simon cried but Kim was serious.

"No," she mumbled, "I'm…" she swallowed hard but she couldn't hold back the floodgates and scrambled out of the bed at breakneck speed. She barely made it to the bathroom before the remains of the previous night hit the toilet bowl and Robin and Simon were left cringing and covering their ears.

"Oh _fuck,"_ Robin hiccupped, "that's damn near set me off as well."

"What the hell _happened_ last night?" Simon whimpered.

"You made us down a small brewery, that's what!" Robin said accusingly.

"I think I've got most of it in my bladder," Simon mumbled crossing his legs. He looked awkwardly at Robin. "Do you think she's going to be long in that bathroom?"

As the sound of Kim's second wave reached them Robin nodded, his eyes closed.

"I think she probably will," he groaned.

"_Bugger."_

Robin slid out of bed slowly, desperately trying not to disturb his thumping head.

"_Urgh,"_ he mumbled as the combination of too much carbonation from the beer and a manky kebab ganged up against him in the form of a foul belch. He stooped down and fished a pair of underpants from the floor. "Are these yours?"

"I hope so, I'm not borrowing _Kim's_ underwear," Simon pulled a face and Robin threw them at him, "Thanks." He glanced at the room. "Any other clothes around?"

"What am I looking for exactly?" Robin asked, eyes skimming the room.

"Everything except one sock," Simon told him.

"One?"

Simon cringed.

"And it's not on my foot," he said.

Robin whimpered a little as he carried on looking for Simon's clothes

"Shit, Si, I don't remember _anything_ after truth or dare."

"I don't even remember all of _that,"_ Kim mumbled as she came back in the room, one hand pressed to her stomach and the other against her forehead.

"Feeling any better?" Robin asked her.

"No," Kim pouted.

"Can you hurry up with the rest of those clothes so I can go to the _toilet_ please?" Simon begged, the pressure on his bladder becoming almost unbearable.

"I've found your trousers," Robin threw them onto the bed, "but there's no sign of your shirt."

"Oh shit, this'll have to do," Simon mumbled, tumbling out of the bed. Instead of pulling on his pants he clutched them to his chest and ran from the room in only his boxers and Kim gulped as the rest her stomach's contents threatened to make a return.

"I never, ever wanted to see that much of Simon in my life," she mumbled. Something didn't quite sense to her though. "What the hell was he doing with his trousers?" she frowned.

"He's got a few confidence issues," Robin said quietly, remembering the drunken night they'd shared a month or so earlier. "Scars and stuff."

Kim looked at Robin a little sadly.

"Sounds like someone else I know," she whispered softly as she sat by his side and ran her fingers through the chunk of dark hair that fell over his face. He nodded with a tiny smile. There were strange parallels there. He couldn't deny it.

"I can't see Simon going under the needle though," he commented.

"That is true," Kim smiled.

Robin ran a hand through Kim's cropped hair and kissed her forehead.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm about to remove my brain for its own good," Kim groaned. "Oh _no!"_

"What now?" Robin asked worriedly.

"We've _overslept,"_ Kim cried, "it's ten past _nine!"_

"We're late for bloody work!" Robin cried, starting to run around in a slight panic, _"Simon!"_ he ran into the hallway, yelling in a flap, _"Simon, it's gone nine!"_

There was a pause, then a zipping noise and a sudden scream of "_What?!"_ followed by a flushing noise and a hasty exit from the bathroom.

"How can it be after _nine?"_ he cried, holding up a towel to cover his torso.

"Because we spent a small fortune on alcohol last night and managed to surrender our ability to set the alarm clock or get up in the morning in the process!" Robin cried, "come on, we've got to get moving!"

"Wait a minute, where is my shirt?" Simon demanded as he started to do laps of the bedroom.

"You can borrow one of mine," Robin told him, throwing a shirt in his direction, "Fuck, I haven't got time to get changed." He ran from the room, "just going to swill my muth out with mouthwash."

Simon watched Kim buckling up her boots as he pulled on Robin's shirt and started to fasten the buttons.

"Can you remember anything at all?" he asked her.

"No, and it's probably best that it stays that way," Kim told him as she stood up and pulled on her jacket. She stopped for a moment and swallowed hard. "Oh god," she flinched, "I haven't been this sick since _Dispatches_ showed footage of the incident with DI March and the Nick Nailer cut-out."

"Are you OK?" Simon asked. Kim nodded, then her eyes bolted and she ran from the room at top speed. Distressed cries from Robin emanated from the bathroom along with more unpleasant noises.

Eventually all three hungover, unwell souls were ready to leave; heads banging, stomachs churning and brains rolling.

"Simon," Robin began sternly, "the next time you decide we need a night on the town do me a favour?" he sighed, "take up crochet or something instead."

~xXx~

Robin wished he had a pair of dark glasses to hide his bloodshot, tired eyes as he slunk into the Canine unit. There were a few mutters amongst the staff, which he had more or less expected.

"Morning sir," one or two officers piped up and he offered a feeble wave.

"Hi," he mumbled.

"Sir, where's your uniform?" Shaz asked him and Robin swallowed.

"I, uh," he coughed, "spilt something on it and had to change," he bluffed.

"Would this thing you spilt on it be _your brain?"_

Robin froze. Very slowly he turned around and jumped a little at the extremely angry face glaring in his direction.

"Uh," he coughed, "Good morning Gene."

"Afternoon," Gene narrowed his eyes.

Robin coughed again.

"A-am I late?" he asked innocently.

"Never too late to start a nightmare," Gene boomed. He beckoned Robin with his finger. "Come with me, Batman."

"B-but I have a lot of work to do!" Robin protested.

"You don't seem to be in uniform," Gene commented, "so you'll have to come and work with me for the day, Tragedy."

"What? _Why?!"_ Robin whined.

"Come with me and you'll soon find out why," Gene barked and stood back to wait for Robin to pass.

Sheepishly he left the room, fearing whatever was going to come next. He was fairly sure none of them had attempted to kiss Gene so he had no idea what the Guv could have been looking so angry about, but he had a feeling he was about to find out.

~xXx~

Robin sheepishly joined a hungover line-up in Gene's office where both Simon and Kim were standing looking pretty much the worse for wear. Simon's eyes were half closed as the pressure in his head reached critical point while Kim was an interesting shade of green.

"Rob?" she said in surprise.

"He just hauled me in!" Robin protested, "what the hell's going on?"

"No idea," Kim said warily while Simon turned very pale.

"We've been here before," he commented and Kim blanched.

"It was _not_ my favourite day," she said quietly.

All three clammed up as Gene strode past them and began to pace up and down behind his desk.

"_Well."_

That one, single word was more loaded than all the weapons on the streets of London. The three terrified faces shared glances then focused back on Gene.

"I-is something the matter, Guv?" Kim asked warily.

"Is something the matter?" Gene mulled over the question, "well let's see; shall we begin with the endless loop of Red Dwarf synopses piped down me bloody telephone when it wasn't _goldfish shoals_ that were nibbling at me toes at the time? Or maybe the twenty-four pizzas that somebody mysteriously had delivered to my house with '_suckers_' spelt out in pieces of pepperoni. Or, maybe even the Gorilla-gram that turned up half past ten at night singing a medley of hits by the Minogue sisters." He stared at the three faces as moments from the night started to come back to them, "but no, I think the thing I _really_ wanted to talk to the three of you about is the impromptu raid that three senior members of Fenchurch East allegedly held at a local nightclub last night." He watched as all three faces froze.

"Ah," said Robin.

"Oh," gulped Simon.

"Whoops," cringed Kim.

"It began, according to management, with warrants being flashed around as they insisted on replacing the dancers on the podiums. One such 'replacement dancer', with a heavily inked chest," his glare turned to Robin who attempted unsuccessfully to slip through the wall, "requested that the music be turned off temporarily to address the clubs patrons in the hope that DS Dawson was in attendance –"

"Uh oh," Robin slid to the floor.

"- upon which he requested a large _tongue sandwich_ from the aforementioned detective sergeant –"

"Oh shit," Robin tucked his head into his shirt collar.

"- and upon failure to procure said tongue sarnie launched into a rendition of _Angels_ that made Robbie Williams turn in his _grave!" _

"Robbie Williams isn't dead," Robin protested weakly

"He was after you murdered his song!" Gene barked, "yer rendition killed the bugger!"

Robin laid flat on the ground and decided to play dead.

"Did… he at least _get_ the tongue sandwich?" Kim piped up, holding her finger aloft as though shyly asking a question in class.

_"I wouldn't know!"_ Gene cried, spittle flying in all directions, "The nightclub did not volunteer that information and I wasn't sticking around to find out!"

"Whoops," Robin mumbled into the floor.

"Amongst the other calls I've received this morning there's been a pub complaining that you seized the dart board as '_evidence'_ in the middle of a tournament, a restaurant sending me the bill for cleaning lasagne off the ceiling and the management of Liverpool Street Station who are charging me to send a bloke with a crane to remove a man's shirt from the top of a big bloody sculpture along with the removal of the words _'Simon Was 'Ere'."_

"So _that's_ where it went," Simon blushed.

Gene focused his glare on Simon and Kim.

"Well aren't _you_ the lucky ones?" he commented, "you've had the delights of spending yer post booze day at me beck and call before. Well guess where you're going to be spending it today?"

"Oh Gene, _no,_ please," Simon begged.

"Take a seat outside," Gene glowered.

"Erm," Simon flinched and rubbed his pierced backside, "I'd rather stand if it's all the same to you."

"_Sit down and take yer bloody carpet monster with you,"_ Gene stuck a boot in Robin's side, making him yelp, "there will be paperwork. Paperwork and large plates of grease."

"_Groooo,"_ Kim made a noise of revulsion as she clutched her stomach, "I'll give that a miss thanks."

"Not if you know what's good for you."

"Not if you know what's good for your carpet," Kim muttered.

"And you can forget the bloody latte run," Gene told them, "vats of back coffee will be prepared." He nodded towards the door. "Piss off, the lot of you. Yer breath's making me walls peel."

As Robin slowly hauled himself to his feet and the three of them left the office there was a sense of de ja vu for Kim and Simon.

"Talk about history repeating," Simon muttered.

"It's not the only thing repeating," Robin mumbled as he burped discretely.

"I can't face a whole day of Gene's paperwork," Kim whimpered, "Do you think if I buy him a bottle of scotch he'll let us off at lunch time?"

"You might as well syphon our blood into a bottle, it's eighty percent proof," Robin muttered.

Despite their thumping heads and dodgy guts there was a sense of unity and camaraderie amongst the three of them that none of them had ever felt before. It was the first time they had all been together and it felt good – which was more than could be said for their heads.

"Never again," Simon mumbled as he took a seat, _"ow."_

They all knew that was going to be a lie.

**The End**

**~xXx~**

_**A/N: I wanted to say thank you for the kind messages, I'm so sorry that I haven't replied personally, I'm finding it much harder to face talking to people than I am having my characters talk to each other. All I've done pretty much this past week is write. It helps a lot. **_

_**Thank you so much for reading this suspiciously light-hearted fic (don't worry, it doesn't last :P heh heh)- The epilogue is up tomorrow and I'm going to post the prologue of my next fic at the same time because a) I'm way ahead with chapters and b) tomorrow (27**__**th**__** feb) is Simon's birthday! (Check back at the end of 'What Do You Want From Me?' if you're in any doubt!) so he will be requesting gifts of tacky jumpers and red crocodiles from you all!**_


	17. Epilogue: Sailing Ships

**Epilogue**

Simon had a horrible feeling he was being watched. He glanced up to see Kim's angry glare focused on him.

"It's not _all_ my fault!" he protested as she aimed her fingers at him like a gun.

"You're _dead_, Simon," She told him as she stamped yet another sheet of paperwork.

"You could have said no!" he protested.

"We did," Robin muttered through gritted teeth.

Kim swallowed hard as another wave of nausea washed over her. She closed her eyes and took a very deep breath. It took a few moments to pass before she could resume glaring at Simon.

"_A night on the town,"_ she said sarcastically, _"it'll be fun."_

"It _was_ fun!" Simon cried.

"We don't remember enough to confirm that!" Robin told him. He flinched as his own shouting made his head throb. "Shit, I can't take much more of this. I need more paracetamol."

"You need more of _these_," Gene's voice interrupted as he placed another giant pile of papers on the desk.

"Oh my god," Simon started at them, aghast.

"Have you been saving this up since the last time we got in trouble?" Kim cried in horror.

"More or less," Gene nodded and paced back to his office as Simon's head flopped down onto the new pile.

_"I hate everything," _he groaned.

"Morning jailbirds," Alex breezed through the office, amused by the state of the three of them. The varied reactions made her laugh even more as Kim attempted to sit up straight and neaten herself while Robin made puppy-dog eyes to garner sympathy and Simon merely buried his face deeper into the pile of papers with a groan.

"Morning, Ma'am," Kim tried not to look like death warmed up.

"how are we all feeling today?" Alex asked brightly.

"Smashing," Simon mumbled into the papers.

"Good," Alex tried not to laugh. She looked at Kim and watched her cheeks gain colour with speed. "I enjoyed your phone call, Kim."

Kim froze.

"What phone call?" she asked

"You don't remember?" Alex asked innocently and Kim cringed.

"There are blanks," she said quietly.

"That's a shame," Alex said cheekily, "I was going to ask if there'd be any more in the future." She gave an innocent shrug, "Never mind."

"Wait, why didn't Gene haul her over the coals for calling you?" Robin asked.

"Gene wasn't there," Alex told him, "he was busy trying to refuse two dozen pizzas at the door when she called." She glanced back at Kim and gave her a sly smile. "Shame the answer phone wasn't on."

"W-what did I say?" Kim asked as Alex walked towards Gene's office, "Ma'am., no, don't leave it like that! Come on!" she threw her hands in the air and glanced at Robin, then at Simon in turn. "What did I say, guys? Come on, _someone's_ got to know?"

"I was busy pole dancing," Robin whimpered.

"I'm busy snogging the paperwork," Simon mumbled into the stack.

Kim's face was still burning up but she had no memory of the alleged call. Whatever it was, Alex didn't seem offended. Quite the opposite in fact.

"I could have pulled and I don't even know," she wept.

"I _didn't_ pull and I don't remember it," Robin groaned.

There was silence.

"Don't look at me," Simon piped up eventually, "this stack of paperwork is the most action I've seen in weeks.

Kim shook her head and stopped abruptly as it thumped a little harder.

"Never again," she mumbled.

They all knew that was going to end up being a lie.

~xXx~

Marci threw her coat over a chair as Jake gave a sigh and pulled off his gloves.

"Bloody waste of time," he muttered.

"I'm not sure I buy this whole _gang-of-old-ladies _bollocks anyway," Marci told him, "it's too Monty Python for me."

"Try telling that to the poor git who got a knitting needle up his –"

"_Ahem?"_ They glanced around to see Shaz lurking a little awkwardly at the door.

"Sorry," Jake sighed, "worst case ever. Just letting off steam."

"So was that old women when she insisted on making us our fifth cup of tea," Marci rolled her eyes.

"Babe, can we talk?" Shaz asked her, nodding towards the doorway. Marci glanced at Jake, a little confused. He shrugged.

"Uh," she nodded a little, "OK. Is everything alright?"

"Just need a little talk," Shaz said, her voice hovering between brightness and nervousness. She stepped back as Marci grabbed her coat again and walked towards her.

"Are you alright?" Marci asked her as they began to head down the corridor, "you were acting very strangely yesterday?"

"I –" Shaz remembered seeing the other her on the screen and flinched. "I hit my head when I fainted," she said a little nervously, "I had amnesia. Couldn't really remember who I was."

"Who the hell was Chris?" Marci asked. It had been troubling her terribly and Shaz cringed. She was starting to understand why Gene and Alex always had a glass of something alcoholic in their hand.

"H-he was some… he…" She swallowed, "it doesn't matter. I thought I knew him, I was concussed, I'm sorry Marci, I must have been acting like a complete idiot."

"Maybe a little," Marci said awkwardly and they exchanged a nervous smile. By now they'd managed to walk all the way down the corridor and a few flights of stairs, emerging out into the car park a few moments later. Marci slipped her jacket back on as the chilly breeze reminded them that November had begun and with it winter was setting in. She looked at Shaz curiously. "Is… that what you wanted to talk about?"

"No, no," Shaz looked down and gave a little laugh, "God, no. Whoever he was I didn't want to talk about Craig."

"Chris," Marci pointed out.

Shaz shook her head, cringing. She wasn't sure she'd gotten away with any part of the lie but she wanted to change the subject. It was hard enough blocking out certain facts as she walked along with Marci; the other things that Alex had told her. Was it really true? Had Marci died? Staring at her pretty face she looked so full of life. Shaz realised at that point it didn't really matter, in a way. She couldn't let herself dwell on the idea that Marci had lost her life in another world, some other time, She was alive, strong, beautiful and special in that world. In _her_ world. When it came down to it wasn't that all that mattered?

"Marci," Shaz stopped walking and turned to her. There were occasional golden leaves falling around them in the car park, like a strange flurry. She looked her in the eye a little awkwardly, forcing herself not to look away. "I really messed things up, didn't I?"

Marci hesitated.

"If you hit your head –"

"No, no," she looked down, "I didn't mean yesterday." She took a deep breath and looked Marci in the eye again. "I meant the day I told you. That I had feelings for you."

"Oh," Marci swallowed. She looked down, letting the toe of her impossibly tall shoe scuff amongst the fallen leaves. "Shaz… it's OK. You weren't ready, I prised it out of you –"

"I _was_ ready," Shaz began, pushing her hair from her face, "but I couldn't admit it to myself, even though I did to you." She closed her eyes, "you see I had some kind of… feeling. It sounds stupid… not like I'm psychic or anything… but I felt like things weren't over yet."

"How do you mean?" Marci frowned.

"About Kim," Shaz said quietly.

"Shaz," Marci frowned, "She died and you –"

"She didn't."

Marci froze on the spot, her expression slowly crinkling in bewilderment,

"What?"

"They told me yesterday," Shaz whispered.

"What do you mean?" Marci shook her head, "you went to her funeral, you said so."

"I know. I know I did but she," she flinched as she tried to pull herself together. She needed to be strong, as strong as the others who knew the truth. "It was an undercover thing, Marci. She was stabbed and they said she died so she could go under cover. None of us knew."

"No one?" Marci felt herself shaking a little, "not even Hunt and Drake?"

Shaz hoped that her words were convincing enough.

"I don't think any of them knew, babe," she whispered, "and now she's back."

"You mean –" Marci's hands rose to her mouth and she too three literal steps backwards. "Oh my _god!_ That's _her?_ DCI Stringer?" she shook her head, "B-but I thought you said she was the same age as you! She looks so old –"

"The undercover work must have been really stressful," Shaz bluffed with a shrug.

"Shit, you're not kidding," Marci shook her head, "god, I can't believe it."

"Neither could I, "Shaz said quietly, "when I saw her face to face yesterday it was the biggest shock of my life."

"Oh _god_, that's why you fainted, wasn't it?" Marci asked, then frowned, "B-but why did _I_ faint?"

Shaz gave an innocent shrug.

"Sympathy blackout?" she suggested with a sigh, "Marci, I don't know. But I do know that… that when I got to talk to her it helped me so much. All the grieving I'd done for her, I _had_ put her in the past, but I knew deep down there was going to be a proper goodbye."

"What are you saying, Shaz?" Marci asked, unsure what direction this was taking.

"I'm saying I'm sorry," Shaz's expression grew regretful and sad, "I've never regretted anything more than running away from you that day. And ever since… things haven't been right."

Marci looked down.

"I didn't know where I stood," she said quietly.

"No. You didn't," Shaz said with a sad sigh. She reached out and surprised Marci by taking her hand. "I'm really sorry, Marci. Even _I_ didn't know."

"And," Marci began awkwardly, "do you know now?"

Shaz wondered exactly how cheesy she was allowed to be without making it cringe-worthy. She didn't mind the occasional bit of cheese but wasn't sure about Marci. She eyed her with a cautious sideways smile then decided to go for it. It felt like that kind of a day. Pulling her slightly by the hand, she brought Marci closer, closed her eyes and leaned toward her, sneaking a little kiss against her soft lips. They tasted of tea and sweet biscuits. Shaz smiled a little and licked her own lips, tasting Marci's against them.

"Does that answer your question?" she asked before she cringed, "and was that the corniest thing I've ever said?"

Marci's face grew a little warm and a smile started to spring from her previously serious expression.

"Yes on both counts," she said.

Shaz looked down, slightly embarrassed.

"Good," she said, "and, sorry for the cheese."

Marci linked her arm through Shaz's and her smile grew a little wider.

"Never apologise for cheese," she said, "would I be wearing these shoes if I minded cheesy things?"

Shaz looked down a little coyly.

"Walk you back to CID?" she asked.

"Thought you'd never ask," Marci grinned.

As they walked together smiles broke out on both of their faces. Shaz felt buoyed and happier than she had in a very, very long time. It was going to be a better day.

~xXx~

Kim stretched across the desk and poked Robin in the arm.

"_Ow!"_ he griped, rubbing it dramatically.

"Go and talk to him," Kim nodded in Jake's direction.

"After what I apparently did last night?" Robin shook his head, "I'm never going to be able to speak to him again." He sighed, "more to the point, he'll never speak to _me_ again." He noticed Jake looking at him but the moment their eyes met he looked away. "See?"

"Just go and talk to him," Kim urged him.

"What the hell are you doing?" Simon frowned, "are you trying _again_ to make Robin cheat on you? That's disgusting!"

"How can it be cheating if I'm telling him to do it?"

"It's still cheating!" Simon hissed.

"Oh, go and make love to your paperwork," Kim hissed.

"It's all academic anyway because I'm not going to speak to him," Robin told them both.

"Don't know if you're going to get a lot of say in the matter," Kim whispered as Jake began to walk in their direction.

"_Oh shit,"_ Robin cringed and pretended to be very interested in his paperwork until he heard Jake clearing his throat loudly behind him. Very slowly he turned around. "Oh, hi Jake, didn't see you there," his tone was about as false as he could possibly get and he knew it. Jake seemed to be staring at his lower regions, making Robin feel extremely uncomfortable. "What are you doing?"

"Checking you found them," said Jake.

"What?"

"Your legs," he gave Robin a withering glare, "because you were pretty legless last night.

Robin cringed and got to his feet.

"Jake, god, I'm so sorry," he began, "I don't even remember what happened. I didn't mean to get so drunk –"

"You never do," Jake told him.

"But I really didn't," Robin tried to explain, "Simon wanted to treat us because it was Kim's first day, and it had been a while since I'd had anything to drink so it went to my head." He glanced around and saw Simon looking at him disapprovingly, "Can we go somewhere else?"

"No, it's fine," Jake shrugged, "just wanted to make sure you were still in one piece. That's all."

"Jake," Robin groaned as he started to walk away. "Jake, _listen."_ He jogged a couple of paces which jarred his fragile head. "Ow, oh god," he groaned.

"Sir, it's fine," Jake said stiffly, "I was just worried. That's all."

Robin tried to smile but his mouth wouldn't comply.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "thanks… thanks for thinking of me." He watched Jake shrug and look away and that was as much as he seemed to be able to get out of DS Dawson for the moment. Reluctantly he gave a nod of acceptance and started to turn around. "I'll leave you to your work," he said quietly but as he took a step away Jake began to speak.

"Now come it's always me you try coming on to when you're drunk, Sir?"

Robin froze and glanced behind him.

"What?"

"Because it is," Jake reminded him, "think about it. Election night. That night at the club when I had to call DCI Shoebury to get you. And now –"

"OK, I get the message," Robin interrupted, not wishing to hear about his exploits all over again, "but…" he flinched, "Jake… you… you're wrong."

Jake shrugged tiredly.

"What about?" he asked.

"The number of times I've tried to talk to you," Robin began but Jake shook his head.

"Sir, it's fine,"" he said quietly, "you get carried away when you've had a few."

"You've completely ignored my point!" Robin protested, "you won't _let_ me talk to you when I'm sober!" he started to frown, "maybe that's why it all comes pouring out when I'm pissed. Because it's the only time I won't take no for an answer." He noticed Jake had started to look a little awkward and anxious and the last thing Robin wanted was to upset him further. It was time to back away again, he supposed. But then again, wasn't that his whole argument. "No. I'm not going to give up this time," he said, "I really like you, and I thought maybe you liked me too. But you keep running away. So maybe I'm wrong or…" he gave a shrug, "or maybe _you_ need to have a few too many one night. See if you let the truth come out then."

Jake thrust his hands into his pockets and tried to disappear into his shirt. He wouldn't look at Robin and longer. He couldn't. Very slowly, his eyes turned downward and he whispered.

"Maybe."

That word surprised Robin. He blinked and stepped back.

"Yeah," he nodded, "maybe." He glanced back at the desk where Simon was shaking his head in disapproval while Kim was nodding as enthusiastically as her hangover would allow her. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and tried to gather his courage. "Maybe I'll… _accompany_ you for that drink some time?"

Jake chanced a glance back at him.

"Maybe," he agreed.

Robin chanced a tiny sideways smile.

"Are you going to say anything other than maybe?" he asked.

Jake tried not to smile back.

"Probably."

Soft laughter came from Robin as he looked down and smiled at nothing. He looked back at Jake who seemed nervous and awkward but not unhappy. He didn't want to push his luck. It was best to leave it there.

"Alright," he said quietly, "maybe we'll arrange that some time."

Jake nodded slowly.

"OK," he said.

Robin smiled then turned away before his blush could betray his insecurities. He took a fast walk back to the desk where Kim and Simon were waiting. Despite himself even Simon wanted some gossip.

"Well?" he prompted.

Robin slipped back into his seat.

"Well what?"

"Well did you ask him out?" Kim asked.

Robin tried to suppress a smirk.

"Maybe," he said.

~xXx~

Alex smiled as she looked out at the office and watched the interactions taking place. After the difficult day before she had expected for things to be awkward and fraught in a non-hungover sense but instead things seemed to be hitting an even keel.

"Look at the poor sods," she said, "They'll be doing that paperwork from now until they star drawing their pensions."

"They won't have shifted their hangovers by then," Gene told her, pressing a small glass into her hand.

"A bit early for this, isn't it?" Alex asked.

"Nope."

Alex looked at Gene.

"That's your whole argument?"

"Yup."

Alex nodded, considering his case.

"Makes sense to me," she said.

Gene leaned back against his desk with his and outstretched.

"I believe a toast is order, Bolly," he told her.

"Oh?" Alex frowned, "What for exactly? Palming off your paperwork on the drunk and unfortunate of Fenchurch?"

"Nope," said Gene, "for surviving."

Alex clinked her glass against his with a wry smile.

"That's what we do," she told him, "we seem to stumble from one day of survival to another."

"Don't do it down, Bolly," he told her, "we've come through a lot this year." He glanced up at the calendar on the wall. "We both know what last weekend should have been, Bols. Don't try to tell me you don't remember." He watched her expression change and fall as her eyes turned downwards. "Your fingers would be loaded with a gold band if everything had been _fine and dandy_. But it wasn't." he sighed as he stared into his glass. "Came bloody close to losing you six months ago. Literally and metaphysically."

"Metaphorically," Alex sighed.

"Nope, state of this world lately I think I got it right the first time," Gene told her. He stepped closer and lifted up her other hand, examining the twinkle of her engagement ring. "Never did find another date to ring, did we?"

Alex shook her head slowly.

"No," she said quietly, "we didn't."

Gene nodded and hesitated, then walked toward his desk and fished out a large envelope from his drawer.

"Look what came today," he said, "complimentary calendar from the British Sprout Appreciation Society. For doing our bit for the fair green veggies, apparently," Gene rolled his eyes, "can't let the woman downstairs get her mitts on this, you saw what happened yesterday. She'll probably go catatonic with delight." He laid it on his desk and flipped open a few pages. It fell open at July. "The sprouts have spoken, Bolly," he told her, "pick a date."

Alex glanced at the page then at his expression to see if he was being serious. The slight look of awkwardness and embarrassment on his face confirmed it.

"Any date?" she asked and Gene nodded. With a sideways smile she picked up a pen from his desk and let it hover over the page. Biting her lip gently, she smiled, then she lowered the pen over Saturday 25th July and ringed the date enthusiastically.

"Good choice, Lady B," Gene nodded. This time when he held out his glass Alex held hers out with far more purpose.

"To July," she said, cracking into a smile.

"And may next year be as happy as Simon at an X-Files convention," Gene added.

They drank their scotch, they shared furtive glances and they each spent the day giving secret smiles. It was the final sign that Keats's horrific acts were secured in the past and that although they would never quite put it behind them they were never going to let it – or _him_ – get between them again. The station, the world and their relationship had all found renewed strength.

That was definitely something to raise a glass to.

~xXx~

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

"_James?_

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

"_Yes, there was movement –"_

"_I saw it. I'll call his doctor."_

"_James? Hello, James. You're in Fenchurch General. Everything is alright. Just relax, you've been out for a very long time."_

"_The doctor's on his way."_

"_fantastic."_

"_Hi, James."_

"_James, this is Nurse Cooper, she's been one of the nurses involved in your care while you've been with us._

"_I wondered what colour those eyes were going to be, James. I wasn't expecting them to be so dark though. It's good to see you back with us."_

He blinked. He could do little else. Nothing else seemed to want to move.

The bright hospital light was making it hard to focus on the faces looming over him as he slowly came round. It didn't make sense. _Nothing_ made sense. He could recall little things; being lost, adrift in time, so much anger, so much disillusion, working hard to fight back and try to right the wrongs until…

Well, there was darkness.

Coldness.

A malevolence that crept through his veins and into his bones.

"_James? The doctor is here. He's going to check you over. I'll be right here."_

James. He wanted to sneer as he heard that name. That wasn't him. He hadn't used that name in a very long time.

Jim.

He was Jim now.

He was Jim and –

And he was angry. He was _really fucking angry._

He'd been wronged, over and over and –

And he was going to put that right.

He didn't know how. The details were missing from his mind. But he was going to find a way.

He let the world float around him as the doctor prodded and poked his body, a body that felt so foreign to him suddenly. This wasn't him any longer. He wasn't the man he'd been when his life had been all but taken from him by a blow to the head.

He was Jim now. Jim Keats. And he'd been wronged.

His body felt next to useless, weak and disintegrating, but it wouldn't stay that way forever. He'd fight, he'd get strong. And _then_ he would find _The One Who Got Away._

Jim Keats was awake.

**The End**

**~xXx~**

_**A/N: Pfffft talk about being in it for the long haul, finally coma!Keats is awake after being introduced waaaaay back in Strangers! I feel kind of mean for ending it there :P**_

_**Thank you for reading this surprisingly lighthearted fic. It was a little light relief after a very dark time and I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing it. In the past week writing is the one thing that's kept me going. I've appreciated every review and message so much. Jessie, you are absolutely awesome! Steph, I'm sure I don't need to put into words what you mean to me! Charlotte, I am SO happy you're still enjoying these, we'll chat really soon :) ashleighcheryl, silivan and everyone I've talked to on Tumblr and by PM, thank you so much, I really appreciate every message and review, and to everyone silently reading, thank you for following – with the A2A fandom dwindling it's been really heartening to see more people finding and following this series :) I feel like I need a name for the series… the Ninetiesverse?!**_

_**Watch out for the next fic, 'Bittersweet Symphony', in the not-too-distant future (OK, about an hour from now :P) and I'm planning a little Robin/Kim oneshot on Fictionpress in the next few weeks, covering their catch-up talk after they were reunited. Also as today is Simon's birthday I'll be writing a post about him later on my tumblr (link on my profile) to celebrate! :P Happy Shoebury day :D**_


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